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We were playing one of our favorite video games the other day, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), so real in its depiction of the streets of Los Angeles. With the emerging landscape of virtual reality gaming and its potential to create new worlds, not to mention new ways of looking at our own, it got us to thinking about video games in general – and the strangest ones out there in particular. I mean, let’s face it, there are some pretty damn weird games out there. Super Mario Bros. is about an apparently deranged plumber who runs around a psychedelic mushroom kingdom bashing his head on blocks. Sonic the Hedgehog is about a bright blue hedgehog with a serious amphetamine problem who bounces around like a pinball, collecting gold rings. Video games have always been a platform for innovation and creativity, allowing developers to transport players to unimaginable worlds and experiences. Worlds where the craziest things go and the normal rules of space, time, and even basic human interactions don’t necessarily apply. While many games follow familiar genres and storylines, some take a different path, venturing into the realm of the bizarre and the eccentric. And there’s no shortage of video games that are just flat out weird. In Silent Hill 2, for example, there was a secret ending that revealed a dog was controlling the events of the entire game. Although some games have a weird or funny scene, it takes a special kind of developer to make a video game truly bizarre, from start to finish. In this blog post, we will delve into the realm of some of the strangest video games ever created, where the line between imagination and reality becomes delightfully, and sometimes frightfully, blurred. Desert Bus (2005): In this game, you drive a bus that goes from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. What’s so bizarre about it? It requires eight hours real time of driving to make the trip one way. There are no bathroom breaks either as the game cannot be paused. This is either a fantastic test of human endurance, or a fascinating test to see how many people are bored enough to give up eight uninterrupted hours of their life to win this pointless game. Hatoful Boyfriend (2011): Weird and sometimes wonderful dating simulators are a well-established genre in Japan but a pigeon dating simulator is probably about as weird as it gets. The player takes on the role of a high school girl who goes to a school full of birds. The objective is to romance one of the birds by the end of the year. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder, there’s a secret ending that turns the game into a psychological horror. The Houchi Play (2012): In this Xbox 360 indie game you play as a creepy, apparently middle-aged stalker who sneaks up on women dressed up as little school girls. The premise in and of itself is, to put it mildly, unsettling and even worrying. How do you “win” at this game? By creeping up close enough without the girls ever spotting you. If you do particularly well, the anime girl at the end will be sitting in nothing but her underwear. Punchline (2019): And speaking of underwear, Punch Line is a game about an up-skirting ghost named Yuta who gets over-excited whenever he sees ladies’ underpants. At first glance this excitement gives him superpowers, however, if he gazes upon the underpants for a second time and for too long, his excitement level is pushed to the limits and a meteorite will destroy the earth. This, as you know, is well-established scientific fact. After a bus accident Yuta’s soul is separated from his body and he becomes a Yo Kai (a sort of Japanese ghost). He teams up with another Yo Kai, a talking cat, (because, why wouldn’t ya?) and together they work to reunite Yuta’s soul with his physical body. Katamari Damacy (2004): In this cult classic game, as the prince of the cosmos your challenge is to roll a small sticky ball around various environments, picking up objects to make it grow bigger. The objective? To make the ball grow big enough so that the king of the cosmos can turn it into a star. The things you roll start small, like an eraser or thumbtacks but soon you’re rolling up cows, people, buildings and even entire islands. With its whimsical art style and catchy soundtrack, Katamari Damacy is a delightful and eccentric experience. Goat Simulator (2014): Ever wondered what it’s like to be a goat wreaking havoc in a suburban neighborhood? Well, wonder no more! “Goat Simulator” embraces absurdity and glitches to deliver a hilarious and unconventional gaming experience. Players control a goat with a long tongue, able to perform all sorts of outrageous stunts and cause chaos in its wake. This intentionally buggy game revels in its own strangeness, providing endless hours of unexpected amusement. Typing of the Dead (1999): You’re under attack. There are hordes of zombies coming right towards you, but luckily you brought your most powerful weapon: your keyboard. That’s right, this is a horror learn-to-type game. “Typing of the Dead” is an on-rails shooter where you must type the words on the screen quickly and correctly in order to kill the zombies. To keep things interesting (as if they weren’t interesting enough already) the zombies are all wielding keyboards as well. Sentences you must type out include “I like peas” and “All your bases belong to us”. Persona 4 Golden (2012): The game starts with you moving to a town in rural Japan, then shortly after a dense fog settles over everything and people begin showing up dead. In spite of this, you start making friends at your new school and your new social group consists of the class misfits, including a retired teen pop idol and a tough biker who enjoys sewing and eating animal crackers. One afternoon you are hanging out at the local department store when you fall into a television set, literally through the glass like Alice down the rabbit hole. Inside the television is a mysterious and frightening world which is inhabited by “shadows” (the psychedelic ghosts of people’s subconscious) and also a colourful fuzzy bear named Teddie. You befriend Teddie and he fights the shadows alongside you in the television world. Then later, he joins your social group in the real world and transforms into a human teenage boy with a fondness for cross dressing (when he is not dressed as a giant plush bear). Seaman (1999): If you’ve ever wanted to have a conversation with a bizarre half-fish, half-human creature, then “Seaman” is the game for you. This virtual pet simulator allows players to raise and interact with these unusual beings. What made the game truly unique was its use of voice recognition technology to communicate with the Seaman via a plug-in microphone. The human-faced fish talks back to you via the voice of Leonard Nimoy. The conversations you could have with your virtual pet were inevitably bizarre – he always wants to know more about your life and later, progressing to full blown psycholanalysis… The Stanley Parable (2013): Prepare to question the nature of choice and free will in this mind-bending narrative adventure. “The Stanley Project” places players in the shoes of Stanley, a seemingly ordinary office worker, as they navigate a series of surreal and metafictional scenarios. With a narrator who guides (or misguides) your every move, the game challenges players’ expectations and explores the very nature of storytelling in the video game medium. Sneak King (2006): How many games can you think of that combine stealth with fast food? For the unfamiliar, in some parts of the world Burger King has a mascot, a creepy looking character with a massive grinning head called “The King” (no, not that King). You play the King and must sneak up on people to give them a delicious Burger King burger before they succumb to their hunger and collapse. Why the King must sneak up on people rather than just giving them the food is beyond anyone’s guess, but it is weird and a bit creepy. Japan World Cup 3 (2016): This is a horse race betting game that does not only include horses, but walruses and yetis as well. The horses themselves aren’t even normal. They run on their hind legs swinging their arms in the air while other horses are not even real horses. In the game, there are Trojan horses and horses that look like a mix between a wiener dog and a horse. Catherine (2011): You are Vincent Brooks, a man who has found himself torn between two women. The first, his long-term girlfriend, Katherine, who wants to settle down. The second, a girl he is having an affair with named Catherine whom, in contrast, seems young and carefree. Vincent spends most of his time in a bar called The Stray Sheep, but whenever he falls asleep, he finds himself trapped in a nightmare world with large sheep horns attached to his head. To escape, he must navigate his way around giant boxes while also avoiding deadly spikes and monsters (his inner demons). NPCs also inhabit this world, but they all take the form of anthropomorphic sheep. As the game progresses Vincent’s reality begins to blur with his nightmares, and he must ultimately choose between Katherine and Catherine. (We think the developers of this game must be fans of Haruki Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase”) LSD Dream Emulator (1998): Maybe one of the most surreal games in the history of gaming, LSD Dream Emulator is exactly what its title suggests. Based on a dream journal by Hiroko Nishikawa, there are no objectives set out for you and the purpose of the game is to explore the world and fill in the map you are given. Each area of the game varies vastly from the next. Players are only given 10 minutes to explore before being sent to the start screen where they must make a choice to keep playing. Octodad (2014): You are “Octodad”, an octopus in human clothing who is trying to hide his true identity from his wife and children. You must try to control Octodad as he attempts to blend into the human world, completing every-day, mundane tasks such as walking across a room, going shopping or cooking a meal on the BBQ. To complicate matters, there’s a deranged sushi chef who knows Octodad’s true identity and wants to eat him. Straightforward enough. Doki Doki Literature Club (2017): On the surface, “Doki Doki Literature Club” appears to be a lighthearted visual novel about joining a high school literature club. However, this game quickly takes a dark and unexpected turn, delving into themes of mental health, obsession, and existential horror. Breaking the fourth wall and blurring the line between fiction and reality, this game subverts expectations and leaves players questioning their own perceptions. Mr. Mosquito (2001): Ever wondered what it would be like to be a mosquito? Well, in this one you play as Mr. Mosquito, a male mosquito where your main goal is to suck the blood of a family without being spotted. Now, while that in itself is a somewhat strange concept for a game, it gets a bit creepier. Players have the chance to suck the blood of a woman while she’s taking a bath. If the mosquito is caught, you engage in battle mode. In order to calm down your pursuer, you have to hit the sensitive point of her body to make her relax and forget about your presence so you can go back to sucking her blood. On that one we felt it was time to wrap this up for today. But does all this mean anything? These strange video games, some of which have left us scratching our heads in bewilderment, offer valuable insights into the limitless creativity of the human imagination. These games matter because they challenge our expectations, push the boundaries of storytelling, and remind us that gaming is not solely about conforming to established conventions but also about embracing the unconventional, as life should be we think. Video games have the power to transport us to extraordinary worlds and challenge our preconceived notions. The strangest video games ever created push the boundaries of convention, presenting players with experiences that are delightfully bizarre, surreal, and thought-provoking. They serve as a stark reminder that, sometimes we just need a good laugh or a bewildering experience to escape the mundane realities of life. From rolling up the world in a sticky ball to conversing with human-faced fish creatures, these games embrace the weird and invite us to explore the untamed realms of the imagination. They encourage us to question our assumptions and explore new ways of interacting with the digital worlds. Which, it’s sounding more and more, like we need to learn pretty quickly if we’re to stay one-step ahead of the oncoming AI onslaught. So, if you’re looking for a refreshing break from the ordinary, take a walk on the wild side and embark on a journey into the strange world of these unforgettable video games. What weird, strange, and maybe wonderful video games did we miss? Let us know in the comments below. Or, better yet, post about your favorites in our Forums Activities section. #videogames #activities #losangeles #GTA #grandtheftauto #strange #bizarre #wonderful #unique #burgerking #anyhigh

We had a request, from one of our loyal readers, to write a blog post about Meinertzhagen’s Haversack. Now, we must admit, we had no idea what that even meant. But after doing a bit of research, found that it was a pretty fascinating story – both for the person involved (Richard Meintertzhagen) and for the deception it created. Which brings us to this week’s blog post, a journey through the wacky and wonderfully bizarre world of historical deceptions. Tales of cunning trickery, audacious lies, mind-boggling historical hoodwinks, and the uncanny ability of some individuals to bamboozle entire generations. We kick this off with enigmatic story of Meinertzhagen’s Haversack. Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) was a British intelligence officer who was also one of Ian Fleming’s models for James Bond. In October 1917, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War, he arranged for a courier to “lose” a haversack containing secret British battle plans in the Sinai Desert so they could be captured by the Ottoman Army. In reality, the documents in the haversack were fake, however this led to a British victory in the Battle of Beersheba and Gaza. (A haversack, by the way, is a small cloth bag on a strap worn over the shoulder and, originally referred to a bag of oats carried as horse fodder). As impressive as this ruse was, it seems the deception was a bit deeper than imagined. Because it turns out that Meinertzhagen neither planned nor executed it. In his book The Meinertzhagen Mystery, author Brian Garfield proved that the idea was actually that of a Lieutenant Colonel J.D. Belgrave, and the rider who dropped the haversack was one Arthur Neate. Because Neate was an active military intelligence officer when a Times article was printed in 1927 describing the Haversack Ruse and Meinertzhagen's (fraudulent) role in it, he could not publicly refute the false claims without violating security protocol, though he did finally correct the record in 1956. The true author of the ruse, Lt Col Belgrave, had never contradicted Meinertzhagen's account because he was killed in action on June 13th, 1918. So, Meinertzhagen’s deception within a deception led us to look back at some other audacious deceptions throughout history. Some humorous, some not so much. Some you’ve probably heard of before, some maybe not. And where better to start with than the BBC?! The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest: On April 1st, 1957, the BBC aired a three-minute hoax report on their current affairs program Panorama about a fictional Swiss spaghetti harvest, showing farmers harvesting spaghetti from “spaghetti trees”. To quote from the broadcast – “Spaghetti cultivation here in Switzerland is not, of course, carried out on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry. Many of you, I am sure, will have seen pictures of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley. For the Swiss, however, it tends to be more of a family affair”. The year’s bumper crop was credited in large part to the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil”. The segment fooled many viewers who called in asking how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. Piltdown Man: This paleoanthropological hoax truly deserves its place on the list of biggest deceptions in the whole of human history. The fossilized bones of a supposedly unknown early species of man were revealed as having been found in a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England in 1912 by archaeologist Charles Dawson - and were named as Eoanthropus dawsoni ("Dawson's dawn-man"). For the next 40 years it was believed that this was an early species of man who had yet to be discovered. However, in 1953, it emerged that Piltdown Man was actually a huge fraud - he was in fact a fully-developed, modern human, believed to have died 600 years previously, whose lower jawbone had been replaced with that of an orangutan. It’s unclear who actually made the forgery. Dawson himself remains high up the list of suspects, although it appears a young museum volunteer Martin Hinton - whose box contained fossils stained in exactly the same way as the Piltdown Man - may have been the most likely. The Central Park Zoo Escape: In the 1870's the New-York Herald was one of the most widely read and influential papers in the world. It had recently won international acclaim when it financed Henry Stanley's successful quest to find Dr. David Livingstone in the interior of Africa. But it followed up this success with a stunt that was almost as widely denounced. On November 9, 1874, the Herald published a front-page article claiming that the animals had escaped from their cages in the Central Park Zoo and were rampaging through the city. A lion had been seen inside a church. A rhinoceros had fallen into a sewer. The police and national guard were heroically battling the beasts, but already forty-nine people were dead and two hundred injured. Panicked citizens took to the streets searching for the non-existent animals, causing chaos and confusion, even though the end of the article said that everything in it was not true. The authors later said they wanted to make people aware of weak safety precautions at the zoo and were surprised at the strong reaction to their story. You can read the full text of the Herald’s zoo-escape article here. Pharaoh Ramesses’ Heroic “Victory”: At the great temple in Abu Simbel in Egypt there remains, carved into the walls, a reminder of one of the greatest military lies ever told. Ramesses the Great - often regarded as the most powerful pharaoh to have ruled the ancient Egyptian Empire - embarrassingly led his men into a trap at the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittite Empire in 1274 BC. Forced to sign the first-ever non-aggression treaty in history instead of having his entire army wiped out, Ramesses saw his imperial expansion to the north halted in one fell swoop. However, the pharaoh - who his subjects saw as a god - lied to his populous and painted the embarrassing loss at Kadesh as a brilliant victory for the Egyptian Empire. So, naturally, Ramesses II - while building the great temple - had his imagined outcome of the battle depicted in indelible sunken relief around the inner walls. Ramesses is shown to be leading his army into battle himself in the stone carvings in Abu Simbel - as well as in further depictions at Luxor and Abydos - and scoring a brilliant victory. This lie remains, etched in stone, some 3,300 years after the event. The Trojan Horse: Possibly the most famous case of deception in human history - the legend of the Trojan Horse is an actual event which almost certainly occurred (in some capacity at least) to allow the Greeks to enter the city of Troy and end the siege of the city. In Homer's book "Odyssey", the tale of the Trojan Horse is told. In 1184 BC the Greeks, anxious to end the 10-year long Trojan War, pretended to sail away on their ships from Troy. However, a select force of Greek soldiers stayed behind, hidden inside a huge hollow wooden horse. In celebration at their "victory", the Trojans pulled the horse into the city, unaware of the occupants inside. As the city of Troy slept that night, the covert Greek soldiers jumped from the horse, opened the gates to the city and allowed the returning army to flood in and destroy the inhabitants - finally ending the war. In Ponzi We Trust: Italian Charles Ponzi was such a successful con-artist in the 1920s that he has even had a fraud scheme named after him. "The Ponzi Scheme" derives from his business dealings in North America, where he would promise clients a 50% profit within 45 days and 100% within 90 days - by pretending he was buying discounted postal-reply coupons in foreign nations and then redeeming them at face value in the US. In actual fact, Ponzi was simply paying earlier investors with the money given to him by his new clients. He managed to carry on the scheme for more than a year before the whole thing collapsed, forcing his clients to lose approximately $20million – over $300 million in today’s equivalency. Ponzi spent three-and-a-half years in a federal prison before serving seven years locked up at state level in Massachusetts. He was eventually deported to Italy in 1934. The Great Moon Hoax: In 1835 the New York Sun Newspaper published a series of six articles about the supposed discovery of life and a civilization on the Moon. The discoveries were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the best-known astronomers of that time, and a fictitious associate. The articles described animals on the moon including bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers, and bat like winged humanoids (“Vespertilio-homo”) who built temples. The discoveries were supposedly made with “an immense telescope of an entirely new principle” (James Webb Telescope, eat your heart out!). The authors ended the six-part series by announcing that observations had been terminated due to the destruction of the telescope, by means of the sun causing the lens to act as a “burning glass”, setting the observatory on fire. According to legend, The Sun's circulation increased dramatically because of the hoax and remained permanently greater than before, thereby establishing The Sun as a successful paper. The Cottingley Fairies: This is the case of a photographic hoax that even Sherlock Holmes would struggle to crack. Especially since it managed to dupe Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. In 1917, a series of five photographs were taken by two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, aged 16 and 9, in Cottingley, England. Published in 1919, the pictures purportedly showed the girls playing with dancing fairies. A leader in the Theosophical Society, whose central belief is that humanity is undergoing a cycle of evolution towards increasing perfection, stated, “the fact that two young girls had not only been able to see fairies, which others had done, but had actually for the first time ever been able to materialize them at a density sufficient for their images to be recorded on a photographic plate, meant that it was possible that the next cycle of evolution was underway”. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a spiritualist, saw the pictures and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena. In 1983, the cousins admitted that the photographs had been faked, using cardboard figures and supporting them with hairpins. The Fake Martian Invasion: On Halloween Eve, 1938, many people across the United States thought that Martians had landed in New Jersey and were in the process of destroying the east coast of the United States. In one of the most famous, or infamous, radio broadcasts of all time, Orson Welles presented an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on his program The Mercury Theatre on the Air. Performed live over the CBS Radio Network, the episode is famous for inciting mass panic, though the extent of the panic is disputed. The first half of the program was presented in a “breaking news” style of storytelling, ending with a lone ham radio operator asking, “Is there anyone on the air? Isn’t there….anyone?” with no response. While the second half shifted to a conventional radio drama format narrated by a survivor of the carnage, played by Welles. The broadcast ends with Welles breaking the fourth wall, coming out of character to say that the show had been comparable to “dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying ‘boo’!” The following morning, the 23-year-old Welles’s face and name were on front pages of newspapers from coast-to-coast along with headlines about the mass panic his broadcast had allegedly inspired. “If I’d planned to wreck my career,” he told friends at the time, “I couldn’t have gone about it better.” Of course, the exact opposite was true, and Welles is stilled hailed to this day as one of the most innovative, creative geniuses of 20th century film. From phony news from Pharoah’s to fraudulent photos of fairies, from haversacks filled with fake plans to wooden horses filled with real live soldiers, how are we to make sense of all this, or anything for that matter? It’s astounding how easily we can suspend our disbelief when confronted with the extraordinary. These are cautionary tales for those who blindly trust what their eyes behold and reminders that truth is often a delicate concept, easily manipulated and distorted by those seeking power, wealth, or simply a grand spectacle. While some historical deceptions leave us in awe of the sheer audacity displayed by their perpetrators, they also shed light on the fallibility of our collective understanding and the importance of critical thinking. By unraveling these complex webs of deceit, we not only uncover hidden truths, but also gain a deeper appreciation for the intricate tapestry that is the human experience. It is through questioning, investigating, and unmasking that we can better discern fact from fiction, ultimately deepening our comprehension of the world around us. These tales of trickery serve to remind us to remain ever vigilant in the face of deception in our modern era. By learning from the audacious lies of the past, we can arm ourselves with the tools needed to navigate the treacherous landscape of information and, in turn, safeguard the integrity of historical knowledge for generations to come. We look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below. And if you have ideas for future blog posts, let us know that as well. #meinertzhagenshaversack #WWI #siliconvalley #zachwoods #bbc #spaghetti #centralpark #zoo #animals #newyork #africa #egypt #pharaoh #trojanhorse #greece #homer #troy #ponzischeme #moon #newspaper #jameswebbtelescope #jwt #sherlockholmes #arthurconandoyle #mars #martians #orsonwelles #mercurytheater #cbs #truth #lies #anyhigh

Following our tradition of keeping everyone informed about important national days that may have been inadvertently overlooked, we discovered there are two this week that are probably the most important holidays of the year for those who enjoy gluttony and poetic wit, respectively. May 11th is National Eat What You Want Day and May 12th is National Limerick Day. We thought we’d take a somewhat skewed look at what each of these holidays stand for and how they came about. So, working our way through the two chronologically…… National Eat What You Want Day was created by Thomas & Ruth Roy to help people break away from the frustrating health and diet trends of our times. To just let go and enjoy life a little, if only for one day. We think this is a great thing (and, speaking honestly, is a holiday we celebrate numerous days every week….). In today’s tech/media-savvy world where people are focused on staying fit, getting a size zero figure, cutting carbs, yada yada yada, too many have forgotten to give importance to their taste buds and choice of food. So, this is a day to take a break and relish (pun intended) the food and treat your taste buds to a day of joy without feeling bad about it. This holiday of gluttony seemed a good way to take a quick look at the history of dieting: · In the beginning: Since cavemen left no written record, it’s impossible to tell exactly when the first cavewoman asked the first caveman, “Does this loincloth make my butt look big?” · 400 BC: Ancient Greeks were way into fitness, spending hours a day at the gymnasium (usually naked). To stay fit, Hippocrates recommended a strict diet, exercise, and vomit. · 600-1000 AD: Early Christians sometimes starved themselves to the point of hallucinating to be holy. · 1066: William the Conqueror was so fat he couldn’t mount his horse, so he gave up food and only consumed alcohol. (The diet didn’t work) · 1550: The world’s first diet book was written by an obese Italian, Luigi Cornaro. He recommended 12 ounces of food and 14 ounces of wine a day. · 1727: Thomas Short thought that overweight people lived near swamps, so his “Avoiding Swamps Diet” recommended moving away from swamps. · 1820: Lord Byron struggled to stay thin and often alternated between starving himself and binge eating. He invented a vinegar diet. (Don’t try this at home!). · 1830: The first diet retreat was started by Sylvester Graham, inventor of the graham cracker. He preached vegetarianism. · 1962: Weight Watchers is born in Queens, New York and Overeaters Anonymous was formed. Unlike National Limerick Day (begun in 1984 to celebrate the birthday of English author and poet, Edward Lear) the origin of the limerick is unknown, but it’s believed that the name derives from the chorus of an 18th-century Irish soldiers’ song, “Will You Come Up To Limerick?” A form of verse that’s usually humorous and frequently rude, the limerick is a rhyme scheme in which the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme: · The limerick packs laughs anatomical Into space that is quite economical But the good ones we’ve seen So seldom are clean And the clean ones so seldom are comical · Let’s be real, limericks are basically the drunk uncle of the poetry world. But having a drunk uncle who makes us laugh? No complaints! Since it’s all about the rhyme, the word “Nantucket” is held dear by many a limerist (not a real word, but it fits nicely here). There once was a man from Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket But his daughter, named Nan, Ran away with a man And, as for the bucket, Nantucket It’s actually the “tucket” the makes it such a popularly used limerick word. Pa followed the pair to Pawtucket, The man and the girl with the bucket And he said to the man He was welcome to Nan But as for the bucket, Pawtucket · In honor of the two holidays celebrated here today: · There once was a woman name Mimi She never would wear a bikini When she was asked why She didn’t blink an eye Said, “I’ve eaten too much linguini!” · Limericks can be educational, like this one to teach science: An amoeba named Max and his brother Were sharing a drink with each other In the midst of their quaffing They split themselves laughing And each of them now is a mother · Or this one to teach math: A dozen, a gross, and a score Plus three times the square root of four Divided by seven Plus five times eleven Is nine squared and not a bit more And, without trying to dive too deeply into the bottom of our drunk uncle’s bottle, we leave you with these bits of….wisdom?? There once was a fellow O’Doole Who found little red spots on his tool His doctor, a cynic Said “Get out of me clinic,” “And wipe off that lipstick you fool!” · On a maiden, a man once begat Bouncing triplets named Nat, Tat and Pat Twas fun in the breeding But hell in the feeding She hadn’t a spare tit for Tat! · There was a young maid from Madras Who had a magnificent ass Not rounded and pink As you probably think It was gray, had long ears, and ate grass · There once was a fellow McSweeny Who spilled some gin on his weenie Just to be couth He added vermouth Then slipped his girlfriend a martini Seems a good time to wrap up this weeks’ blog post. While some may see National Eat Anything You Want Day and National Limerick Day as frivolous holidays, that’s exactly why we like them. They serve an important purpose – to remind us to let loose and have a little fun every now and then. So go ahead and write a silly poem, eat that second helping of cake. Because life’s too short to be serious all the time. After all, we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time! What will you be eating on National Eat What You Want Day? And we want to hear your favorite, maybe self-written, limerick in the comments below. #eatwhatyouwantday #limerickday #poetry #funny #holidays #food #diet #anyhigh

We recently read an article about the history of chess and how the pieces got their names. Chess originated in India in the 7th century AD as “chaturanga” and had four main pieces: the king, the chariot, the elephant, and the foot soldier. As the game spread to other parts of the world, the pieces took on new names and forms. In Persia, the chariot become the rook, derived from the Persian word “rukh” meaning chariot. The elephant was transformed into the bishop. In Europe, the foot soldier evolved into the pawn, a term derived from the French word “pion” which means foot soldier. Anyway, this rather dry article got us to thinking about the origins of some words. Which got us to thinking about how some cities and towns got their names. Which brings us to today’s blog post – What’s in a Name? Whether named after a local landmark, a famous person, or just a bizarre accident, we thought you might enjoy learning a bit about some of the strangest, most ridiculously named places we’ve found around the world. And, just so you don’t think we’re making any of these up, we’re including links so that you can make your own travel plans to visit each. Nameless, Tennessee, USA: This seemed like a good place to start. Apparently when the residents decided to apply for a post office, the place of the name was inadvertently left blank. So, the U.S. Post Office Department returned the approved application with the name of Nameless. https://goo.gl/maps/aH359R6CLeTziGnZ9 Boring, Oregon, USA: Named after William H. Boring, a Union soldier who settled in the area after the American Civil War. We love the fact that the town has a sister-city partner with the Scottish town of Dull. https://goo.gl/maps/RUdMoZn3MmBUXqtW6 Imalone, Wisconsin, USA: Whether you’re at a party or an arena sporting event, if you live in this place, you will always say “Imalone in Wisconsin”. https://goo.gl/maps/A84ZeUcCETxTkvxJ9 Intercourse, Pennsylvania, USA: Situated in the unlikely location of the heart of Pennsylvania’s Amish country, this town was the setting for the Harrison Ford movie Witness. Travelers be warned, however, as Intercourse is less than ten miles away from Blue Balls, Pennsylvania. So, if you set your GPS wrongly, you could be in for a very disappointing weekend getaway. https://goo.gl/maps/wSNC3swxwdwhQWDu9 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch, Wales: This small village in Wales, whose name translates to (we kid you not) “St Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool of Llandysilio of the red cave”, has nearly more letters in its name than residents. Instead of providing a map, we thought you’d enjoy more hearing how it’s actually pronounced. Middelfart, Denmark: This unfortunately named city seemed a good way to enter into the more juvenile portion of our listing (reader beware). Middlefart was a whaling hub up until the end of the 19th century. Middlefarters take pride in being home to the Nordic region’s largest museum of ceramics, the CLAY. https://goo.gl/maps/kdS57dSerXQGRiJe6 Titty Hill, England: This enticingly named hamlet is located in the West Sussex area of England. It’s a great place to base yourself for day trips to nearby Wetwang and Shitterton. (seriously, we can’t make this stuff up!). https://goo.gl/maps/tzr8Dd4YTob7dSka7 Muff, Ireland: A village in County Donegal, Ireland near the mouth of the River Foyle, where you can become a member of the Muff Diving Club. You can also attend the Bilingual Historical Walk and brush up on your best Gaelic pick-up lines to try out on the Muff Queen during the – wait for it – annual Muff Festival in August. https://goo.gl/maps/8ovmF1eV3znzMnB29 Shagnasty Island, South Orkney Islands: While we’re pretty sure there’s a porno named after this island, it actually got its name from the unpleasant state of the island due to a large colony of blue-eyed shags that call the island home. https://goo.gl/maps/pBL4i2cNeDSSccEn7 Whiskey Dick Mountain, Washington, USA: Nuff said about that. https://goo.gl/maps/pqe3fZakWMU59hhg8 Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, USA: A rural area just outside of Punxsutawney, home of the famous weather-predicting groundhog Phil (see our blog post from Feb 2nd, 2023) this tantalizingly named place supposedly got its name because it was once home to large groups of turkeys. https://goo.gl/maps/j1sWgeAhX4Q4qNyHA Dildo, Newfoundland, Canada: Located just 2 km south of Spread Eagle Bay, this town got its name from the “phallus-shaped wooden pin stuck in the edging of a row boat to act as a pivot for the oar.” Mmmmhmmm, sure Canadians, whatever you say. In a serendipitous coincidence, just last week, this phallus shaped ice berg floated past the town of Dildo (Google it if you don't believe us!) Nicknamed the “dickie berg” by local residents, it sadly lacked staying power and collapsed the day after the money shot was taken (sorry, just couldn’t resist). In addition to the map link https://goo.gl/maps/ZfSysMiMyKqNRvmFA here’s the TripAdvisor link as well. Worth a click just for the heading! https://shorturl.at/moyR3 Useless Inlet, Australia: The French explorers Nicolas Thomas Baudin and Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet, were clearly pissed off at the sand bank that blocked them from mooring their ship when naming this speck of land. https://goo.gl/maps/XTaxQPwD8sLqNdEV9 Toad Suck, Arkansas, USA: Toad Suck sits along the banks of the Arkansas River. Legend has it that, during the era of the steamboat, its tavern was a frequent stop for boatmen who were said to “suck on the bottle until they swelled up like toads.” The name stuck, and Toad Suck, Arkansas was born. https://goo.gl/maps/qd85AfujqmBFB9GP7 Disappointment Islands, French Polynesia: This small group of sparsely populated coral islands include the island of Tepoto and the atoll of Napuka. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan first called them the “Unfortunate Islands” because his sailors couldn’t find any drinkable water. In 1765, British explorer John Byron named them “Disappointment Islands” because he found the natives hostile. https://goo.gl/maps/tMWNoVtJUPcqtUQJ9 Fucking, Austria: After nearly 1,000 years, the residents of Fucking, Austria voted in 2021 to change the name to Fugging. Apparently the locals had grown frustrated by thefts of the town signs by tourists. No news has yet emerged about possible name changes to the nearby hamlets of Oberfucking and Unterfucking. We would hate to have headed up the tourism bureau here prior to the name change! https://goo.gl/maps/qPDkCm3DHVsMa97A6 Hell, Michigan, USA: Name-wise, this seemed like an ideal placement following the previous town on the list. We just love Wikipedia’s description of the place, “As an unincorporated community in Livingston County, Michigan, Hell has no defined boundaries or population statistics of its own.” True on many levels we guess. And, judging from the photo, apparently it really can freeze over. https://goo.gl/maps/wQC371bou9Xf5GNh9 Nowhere Else, Tasmania, Australia: A rural community of about 40 people, Nowhere Else supposedly got its name when a group of surveyors, in the early 19th century, were mapping the region. When they got to this particular area, they found it difficult to pinpoint their exact location. One of them is said to have remarked that they were “nowhere else but Nowhere Else”. And the name stuck. https://goo.gl/maps/WSYgWfWokb2sWD5Y6 Bumpass, Virginia, USA: Named after Jack Bumpass, the scion of the Bumpass family, this northeast corner of Virginia has become an oddity-traveler’s mecca. AND the first American President, George Washington, slept here in 1791! https://goo.gl/maps/ZaTznFgmsqip1ErNA Zzyzx, California, USA: This unincorporated community, formerly known as Soda Springs, is a flyspeck of a town in the Mojave Desert on the road from “Vegas to nowhere” (shout out to one of our favorite Indie movies “Baghdad Café”). https://goo.gl/maps/qCW8n5wicekrrjST8 This concludes our quick trip around the world. While some town and city names may seem completely absurd, they often have fascinating backstories and/or historical significance. From puns and inside jokes to references to local landmarks and cultural traditions, each name reflects the unique character and identity of the community it’s come to represent. Whether you’re a traveler looking to explore offbeat destinations or simply curious about the quirks and oddities of the world around you, why not take a road trip and discover what hidden gems like Intercourse, Pennsylvania or Dildo, Newfoundland or Boring, Oregon have to offer? You never know what you might learn! Have you been to any of these places? Or to someplace that should have been included on this list? Tell us about it in the comments or post some pics in our Forums section. #travel #india #persia #usa #austria #australia #frenchpolynesia #ireland #england #britain #canada #oregon #pennsylvania #california #virginia #michigan #arkansas #washington #wisconsin #tennessee #chess #baghdadcafe #anyhigh

Picture this: you’re harnessed into a contraption that’s attached to a rope and you’re standing at the top of a tall platform, ready to fling yourself into the abyss. You take a deep breath and step (or maybe get a helpful push) off the edge. The wind rushes past and your heart races. You soar through the air like a superhero, careening through the trees abs over the rooftops below. YOU'RE ON A ZIPLINE! Also known as a Flying Fox, Aerial Rope Slide, Tyrolean Crossing or our particular favorite: Death Slide. The ZipLine has become one of the most popular adventure activities in the world, but did you know that its origins are somewhat murky? Since we gave it a go recently, we thought, this week, we’d take a brief flight through the history of the zipline. Legend has it that the first zipline was created by a group of drunken pirates who were looking for a way to transport their stolen booty from their ship to a nearby island. They rigged up a series of ropes and pulleys between the two locations, then took turns sliding down the line, whooping and hollering all the way. This first high-wire act is all just speculation. The truth is, no one knows exactly where or when the first zipline was invented. Some historians believe that ancient tribes in the mountains of China and India used ropes and baskets to transport goods across treacherous terrain, and that this eventually evolved into a form of transportation for people as well. Others point to the invention of the cable car as a precursor to the zipline. The first cable car was built in the early 1800’s to transport mining equipment and workers up and down the steep mountainsides of Europe. It wasn’t long before thrill-seekers started using the cable cars for recreation, and the idea of using a cable to ride through the air was born. The first recorded use of the zipline as a form of entertainment was possibly in 1739 when Robert Cadman, a British steeplejack and tight rope walker, died while descending from Shrewsbury’s St. Mary’s Church when his rope snapped. Fast forward to the 20th century and the zipline, as we know it today, began to take shape. The first commercial zip line was built in Costa Rica in the 1970’s as a way for biologists to study the rainforest canopy. Soon, adventure-seekers caught on to the thrill of gliding through the treetops, and ziplines began popping up all over the world. At first, zip lines were fairly basic affairs. They consisted of a single cable strung between two points, with a simple harness or seat attached to the cable. Riders would sit or lie down on the harness, hang on tight, and zip down the line. It was a bit like a low-budget amusement park ride, but with a serious adrenaline rush. As the technology and popularity of zip-lining grew, so did the complexity of the lines. Multiple cables were strung together, creating longer and more intricate courses that snaked through the forest canopy. Specialized harnesses were designed to provide maximum comfort and safety, and braking systems were added to slow riders down as they approached the end of the line. Today, zip-lining is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with millions of people around the world trying it out every year. It’s no longer just an activity for hardcore adventurers. Zipline operators go to great lengths to create unique and exciting experiences. The current world’s longest zipline is the “Jebel Jais Flight” in the United Arab Emirates with a single unbroken span of 2,831 meters (9,290 ft.). The steepest zipline in the world is the ZipFlyer in Nepal with a maximum incline of 56% and a vertical drop of 610 meters (2,000 ft.). On his 106th birthday in 2018, British great-grandfather, Jack Reynolds, became the oldest person to ride a zipline. So, from drunken pirates to modern day thrill seekers, the evolution of this high-flying activity is as wild and unpredictable as the rides themselves. But whatever you believe about the invention and history of zip-lining, one thing’s for sure – it’s here to stay and we highly recommend you give it a try! And if you happen to find yourself screaming like a banshee while you’re soaring through the air, dangling by a thread, well that’s just part of the fun! Here’s links to a couple zipline operators around the world you might want to drop in on: Sky Trek – Monteverde, Costa Rica: https://skyadventures.travel/monteverde/skytrek/ The Umauma Zipline – Hawaii, USA: https://umaumaexperience.com/tours/zipline-tour/ XLine – Dubai, United Arab Emirates: https://www.xdubai.com/en/xline/experience Waiheke Island, New Zealand: https://www.ecozipadventures.co.nz/ Flying Ravana – Ella, Sri Lanka: https://www.flyingravana.com/ Comment below or better yet, head over to our Activities Forum and tell us all about the exciting zipline adventures you've had! #zipline #adventure #pirates #superhero #fun #england #costarica #srilanka #unitedarabemirates #nepal #newzealand #hawaii #anyhigh

We do so love these random special days that someone has actually taken the time to memorialize. And when we saw that April 10th was International Safety Pin Day, we just had to give it a shout out. Because how often can we all come together and celebrate…a small, pointy piece of metal. I mean, apparently that’s what the world needs right now. Otherwise, why would anyone have gone to the trouble of getting this day listed on the holiday calendar? Or taken the time to write a whole blog post about it? But why should we celebrate the safety pin? Is it because it’s a marvel or engineering? Is it because it’s a symbol of human ingenuity? Or is it because we just needed an excuse to throw a party and safety pins were the only thing we could agree on? The holiday in its honor began in 2015 and was originally called simply “Safety Pin Day”. However, apparently that designation just didn’t do it justice so in 2017 it became “International Safety Pin Day”, a day dedicated to celebrating the versatility and usefulness of the safety pin. It’s a way to acknowledge the humble clip’s ability to hold things together, whether it’s a hemline, a torn shirt, or a misbehaving zipper. Long before becoming a fashion accessory or a symbol of political solidarity, the safety pin already had a rich and storied past. In fact, it’s been around for over 170 years. It was invented in April of 1849 by American mechanic and inventor, Walter Hunt. Born in 1796, Hunt was a prolific inventor. Among his inventions were a repeating rifle, a fountain pen, a knife sharpener, a streetcar bell, the sewing machine and - the point of this week’s blog post - the safety pin. Hunt came up with the design (to prevent injuries to fingers and other parts of the body) as a way to pay off a $15 debt to a friend. He didn’t get any real cash or fame from his invention and sold the patent to W.R. Grace & Company for $400. He paid his friend back and pocketed the remaining $385. The safety pin quickly became popular. Its simplicity, elegance and household presence have made it much more than just an item of utility, but also of culture and tradition. In India, for example, safety pins and sewing needles are kept for generations and passed from mother to daughter. In the Ukraine it is still a practice today to pin safety pins to the inside of a child’s clothing, to ward off evil spirits. In many European countries, finding a safety pin is good luck, and a portent of good fortune. In the 1970’s, thanks in large part to the emergence of Punk Rock, the safety pin became a new art form, used for body piercings and clothing decoration. It grew to become a symbol of punk culture among media and pop culture outlets. The Do It Yourself (DIY) “stick and poke” is a popular form of tattooing that uses a safety pin and ink. And today, the safety pin has taken on still another meaning. It’s a symbol of solidarity with marginalized communities and a way to show support for those feeling vulnerable or threatened. And while some may roll their eyes at the idea of a small piece of metal making a difference, the truth is that sometimes, the simplest gestures can have the biggest impact. So, whether you’re wearing a safety pin as a form or body art, a way to keep your zipper closed, or as a symbol of support, take a moment to just appreciate the practicality of this unassuming little clip and celebrate it on International Safety Pin Day. Because, as well all know, sometimes it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. We realize that we’re a couple days late in bringing this holiday to the attention of those of you who might have been unaware of it. So you can get it on your calendars moving forward, we’re providing this convenient table of future International Safety Pin Day dates. Let us know how you plan on celebrating our friend, the safety pin, in the future. #holiday #safetypin #international #walterhunt #india #ukraine #europe #punkrock #music #tattoo #anyhigh

We live in a time when truth is not only stranger than fiction, but often hard to come by. From news outlets that are more interested in the greenbacks than the facts, to AI generated pictures of the Pope wearing a puffy jacket it’s getting harder and harder to know what to believe. With today’s difficulty in telling the difference between truth and fiction causing frustration and downright anger, we’re not going there. Today we thought we’d take a deep dive into the world of historical myths. History is filled with misconceptions and flat-out lies that have been perpetuated, sometimes for centuries. The idea of historical myths being untrue can be hard to swallow, especially if you have grown up believing in them. But, as they say, the truth hurts, and sometimes the truth is also hilarious. So, brace yourselves and hang onto your history books as we take a look at 10 of the most notable historical myths we’ve come across that weren’t really true. Christopher Columbus Discovered America Yep, despite all the hype and the holiday in his honor, Columbus didn’t actually “discover” America. First of all, there were already indigenous people living on the continent for a few thousand years. And secondly, Leif Erikson, a Viking explorer, actually landed in Newfoundland centuries before Columbus made his journey. Moreover, Columbus never actually set foot on mainland America, as he landed in the Bahamas instead. But Columbus continues to get all the credit. Maybe it’s because he’s Italian, and Italians have a history of getting screwed over in the credit department (looking at you, Marco Polo). Vikings Wore Horned Helmets Speaking of Vikings (see above), those fierce warriors from the north, with their longboats, their pillaging, and their…..ridiculous headwear? We guess nothing says “I’m here to conquer your village” like a pair of pointy accessories sticking out of your head. Except there’s no evidence that Vikings ever wore horned helmets. Archaeological digs show that most Viking warriors went bareheaded or wore leather headgear. The association between Vikings and horned helmets seems to have originated in the 19th century artwork of Swedish artist, Gustav Malmstromstems. Paul Revere Yelling “The British Are Coming” The truth of this one’s a bit complicated. First of all, Paul Revere needed to keep his knowledge of the Brits’ arrival on the down-low as British troops had already been camped out across the Massachusetts countryside. Plus, the colonists still considered themselves British. If anything, Paul probably told people on a need-to-know basis about the “regulars” – the colonist’s term for British soldiers. He was actually captured by the British before he even reached his final destination. George Washington’s Wooden Teeth Apparently Washington did have terribly bad teeth, and he did wear multiple sets of dentures throughout his life made of ivory, gold and lead. But not wood, according to the organization that runs Washington’s former home, Mount Vernon. Washington did, however, love his Port. And the burgundy-colored liquor may have stained his teeth, making them appear brown and grainy, like wood. King Tut’s Tomb Had Curses On It A pharaoh’s tomb is always cursed and will bring a terrible wrath on anyone who dares open it. It’s a trope peddled by films and books alike. In reality, King Tut’s tomb didn’t have any curses written in hieroglyphs on the walls. However, there was a curse of sorts associated with the tomb. It was the curse of the pursuit of money. Newspapers at the time were in a constant battle for more sales (some things never change) and Howard Carter, the lead archaeologist, told the press there was a curse to help generate buzz about the discovery. Cleopatra’s Bee Powered Sex Toy She is remembered as one of history’s most beautiful and sensual queens – thanks in no small part to her affairs with two of ancient Rome’s most powerful men. But there is nothing to suggest that stories of her having an ancient vibrator (essentially a gourd stuffed with buzzing bees) are true. Lady Godiva’s Naked Ride The legend says that Lady Godiva, who was married to one of the wealthiest men in 11th century England, was willing to ride naked through the streets of Coventry to persuade her husband to lower taxes. The naked truth of the matter however is that it never happened. She may have appeared in the middle of Coventry “naked” – but naked as 11th century Anglo-Saxon’s would have understood it, meaning without jewels or finery. Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned In the summer of 64 CE, the city of Rome erupted in fire. And Nero, the reigning emperor, instead of taking decisive action, took out his fiddle and played while watching the city burn. Or so the story goes. However, this didn’t exactly happen. We know this because the fiddle - a medieval instrument, not an ancient one - wasn’t even invented yet. According to two ancient authors, Nero did wear the costume of a lute player and, while watching the fire in horror, recited poetry about the burning of Troy. Not exactly a stellar response anyway. Witches Were Burned at the Stake Despite all the books and movies, witches weren’t actually burned at the stake, at least not in America. In 1692 in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, two young women started behaving a bit…odd. Screaming, throwing things, speaking in tongues, and contorting themselves into positions that we would now probably pay $100 a month to experience at a yoga class. People were scared and the authorities did what they normally do when encountering things they don’t like – they arrested more than 200 people. Of those, about 25 were put to death for “witchcraft” – none being burned at the stake. Mussolini Made the Trains Run on Time As Italy’s dictator and the guy who’s become the defining face of fascism, Benito Mussolini did do a lot of really bad things. But, according to legend, he had one redeeming quality – he got the Italian trains to run on time. However, this was a complete fabrication because, while he did invest in modernizing Italy’s train infrastructure, he never made the trains run on time. Mussolini’s robust propaganda machine created this myth and buried the fact that Italian trains were no more efficient than before. There’s a famous saying that says, “History is just one damn thing after another.” And sometimes, those damn things can be wildly inaccurate. We need be always cautious when it comes to accepting “facts”, historical or otherwise, without proper scrutiny. So, the next time someone tries to tell you that George Washington had wooden teeth or Columbus discovered America, you can confidently tell them that these are just historical myths. And if they still don’t believe you, just show them this blog post! And remind them that history is written by the victors, not by the fact-checkers. #history #facts #myth #cleopatra #sex #mussolini #trains #nero #rome #kingtut #egypt #vikings #paulrevere #georgewashington #columbus #america #discovery #pope #anyhigh

Ah, naked dining. Finally, a way to truly experience food in all its glory, not just with our tastebuds but with every inch of our bare skin. After all, what could be more appetizing than the sensation of a stranger’s buttocks pressed against your elbow while munching on a salad? If you’ve ever had the urge to dine naked with a bunch of equally unclothed strangers, we recently came across a news story that has your name written all over it. It’s called the Füde Dinner Experience and for $88, according to their website, guests can enjoy “a liberating space that celebrates our most pure selves, through plant-based cooking, art, nudity, and self-love.” These events are hosted by artist and model Charlie Ann Max (she also hosts other naked experiences like naked sculpting, naked painting, and naked breathing) and take place in New York and Los Angeles. While this particular evening was for women only, others are for both men and women. However, for men to attend, a previous participant needs to vouch for them. All prospective guests must fill out a form explaining why they’re interested and detailing “any incidents that could be considered inappropriate or disrespectful during a nude or semi-nude event.” Now we’ll grant you, dining naked might not be on everyone’s bucket list – we’re not here to judge. If it’s not on yours, here are some other things that you might be interested trying in your birthday suit. Naked Skydiving Why let a little thing like clothing get in the way of your adrenaline rush. Just ask supermodel Roberta Mancino whose done over 7,000 jumps, many wearing only the chute on her back. Naked Rugby Rugby players aren’t afraid of anything including playing naked. A match held in Dunedin, New Zealand went off without a hitch except for one interruption – when a fully clothed “streaker” ran across the pitch. Naked Reading You could join the “Naked Half Hour” club at Worcester College where students would disrobe in the library while studying saying it was a way to “break the monotony of a long day’s revision”. Unfortunately, the librarians disagreed saying dozens of naked students were a “distraction to other readers.” Naked Roller Coaster Riding In 2010, 102 people broke a world record when they went for a clothing-free ride on the Green Scream roller coaster in Essex, England. The previous record of 32 naked riders was set in 2004. It does make us wonder just what would be most important thing to hold onto during the ride? Naked Bike Riding 2022 saw the 13th annual running in Philadelphia of the Philly Naked Bike Ride. If you happen to be in the City of Brotherly Love at the right time, you might want to participate and show a little love of your own. For those of you who aren’t necessarily interested in showing your all to just anyone, but might have an interest in seeing others’ all, we’ve taken the time to research, and offer up to you here, a couple of uniquely themed strip clubs we found. Pirates Cove in Portland, Oregon For your inner Jack Sparrow, this strip club is dedicated to pirate lovers looking for both types of booty. The entrance is even shaped as a large jug of rum. Mos Eisley Cantina in Los Angeles, California Twice monthly it has Star Wars-themed nights where girls dress up as storm troopers and other characters, and strip down past their Princess Leah-themed gold bikinis. School House in Negoa, Illinois With multiplication tables and a copy of the constitution hanging on the walls next to the stripper poles it’s almost like being back in school. Subject: Anatomy. 2001 Odyssey in Tampa, Florida It’s all space-themed here with stars and asteroids glowing on the ceiling. Everything else, including the strippers’ bodies, is white and glows in the black light. Kinda like Space Mountain at Disneyland….if Space Mountain had strippers. Of course, some of these ideas may be a little too extreme for some. But then again, so is the idea of stripping down in a fancy restaurant to eat a seven-course meal. Maybe we’re all a little more comfortable with our bodies than we thought. Or maybe we’re just really, really hungry. If you’ve done anything unusual in the nude, like playing basketball or wine-tasting or writing a blog post, we’d love to hear about it in the comments below or in our Forums section. #nakedlunch #nude #dining #newyork #losangeles #portland #oregon #activities #anyhigh

Our blogpost this week is a bit different because it’s about us! We’re a year old and we thought we’d take a couple of minutes to talk about how we got started, what our goals are, and where we’re going. Our goal is to be the “home of happiness”. And, to restate our mission statement: Anyhigh.life is a platform of happiness where anyone who is tripping is welcome. We want you to tell us about the highs you’ve been on – mental, physical, spiritual. We want everyone to feel comfortable to define your experiences in a safe, positive, free-form environment. As the moderators of Anyhigh.life, we are not here to promote, condone, or condemn. We pass no judgement. We look at ourselves as merely purveyors of joy. How did this all begin? It was into the second year of the pandemic. We were working from home, unable to leave our apartment for weeks at a time. After a year of this we, like most everyone else everywhere else, we’re struggling to stay positive. And, as most of you can relate, it wasn’t easy. Sitting on our balcony one night, watching the darkened, silent city below, empty of all but the occasional, solitary car, we thought, wouldn’t it be great if people had a place where they could share positive stories. We were so tired of hearing everything negative nearly all the time. Stories about things they’ve done in the past, places they’ve been, experiences they’ve had that were uplifting, inspirational, or just a hell-of-a-lot-of fun. Sure, there were lots of social-media sites out there already. But we wanted to try to be something a bit different. Anyhigh.life would be a place where people could be creative, but only in a positive way. Not a place for debate or for arguing about good/bad, right/wrong. Simply a place where people could share stories and pics and videos about experiences that they’ve personally had that might make people smile and maybe get excited about the possibility of experiencing something similar. This is where our Forums section comes into play. It's where we want you to share your best trips: Activities: Anything not consumable that sends the endorphins into overdrive Food: Talk about your best culinary experiences – restaurants, meals – anything related to chewable consumption Beverages: Over ice or steaming, screw top or cork – if it goes down in just a swallow or two, this is the place to tell us about it Substances: Only good trips please! The Arts: Audio, visual, published or something else, if it’s worth a thousand words share some of them with us here Spiritual/Mystical: When a higher power takes you on an amazing trip, this is the place to talk about it Way Out There: For anything that doesn’t fall easily into any of our other categories – and remember, we don’t judge! And by the way, our definition of “trips” is “experiences”. Experiences sounded kind of clinical to us and trips was just more fun. And that’s what we’re here for ultimately. For fun! Which is what our weekly blogpost is normally trying for. To look at something, sometimes common sometimes unusual, but always in a new and different way. A way that, hopefully, makes you think a bit differently and that makes you smile, maybe even laugh if we get lucky enough. You can even listen to some of our favorite songs via our Spotify Playlist at the top of our Blog section. So that’s our story. We are happy to see that our community of like-minded people, people who are interested in the world and all it has to offer, is slowly growing. The stories and pictures that have been shared have been great. We hope that we’ll see many more as we move into our second year of tripping. Because, most importantly, YOUR TRIP IS OUR HIGH! If you haven’t joined us already, we hope you will and we hope you’ll tell your friends about us. You can find all our links right here: https://linktr.ee/anyhigh.life #anniversary #oneyear #happiness #high #activities #food #beverage #thearts #spiritual #mystical #substances #wayoutthere #spotify #anyhigh

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day – the one day of the year where everyone suddenly remembers their Irish heritage (real or imagined) and starts sporting green clothing, drinking Guinness, and talking in bad Irish accents. It’s a day filled with parades, shamrocks, leprechauns, and all things green. In honor of this holiday, we thought we’d first try and figure out what the heck it’s all about and then share a look at 10 of our most favorite green things. Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on the 17th of March, the traditional date of the death of Saint Patrick (believed to be March 17, 461 AD). St. Patrick is the foremost patron saint of Ireland who, funnily enough, wasn’t Irish by birth but was a Brit who was kidnapped by Irish pirates. Since around the ninth century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick, but the first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade actually took place in America. In 1601 in St. Augustine, Florida – then a Spanish colony – a St. Patrick’s Day parade was organized by the Spanish Colony’s Irish vicar. More than a century later, on March 17, 1772, homesick Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in New York City to honor the Irish patron saint. Today, the annual New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade is the world’s oldest civilian parade with more than 150,000 participants and nearly 3 million spectators lining the 1.5-mile parade route. The holiday has evolved into a global celebration of Irish culture with parades, drinking, special foods, drinking, music, drinking, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green. Did we mention drinking? Leprechauns are one reason why you’re supposed to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day – or risk getting pinched. The tradition is tied to folklore that says wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns, who like to pinch anyone they can see. If you’re lucky enough to catch a leprechaun, then they must lead you to their treasure and may also grant you three wishes. (For those of you reading this who are ready to rush out and start hunting for a leprechaun, we’d highly recommend first reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman for an understanding of what the consequences of catching one might be….) St. Patrick’s Day aside, the color green universally signifies nature, life, youth, safety and hope. It’s rated as the second most favorite color after blue. Green was a sacred color to the ancient Egyptians who painted the floors of their temples green. Long known as a symbol of fertility, green was the preferred color choice for wedding gowns in the 1400’s. So, with that sly lead-in, let’s take a look at 10 of our most favorite famous (or infamous) green things: Money: I mean, let’s face it, the main reason anyone cares about St. Patrick’s Day is because they think they might get lucky and find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, right? Kermit the Frog: While he may have sung about the difficulty of being green, we all know that he secretly loves it. The Grinch: Who knew that being green and stealing Christmas could be so lucrative? The Incredible Hulk: Because nothing says “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” like a giant, angry green monster. Shrek He’s big, he’s green, and he’s got a Scottish accent. What’s not to love? The Green Lantern: Because nothing strikes fear into the hearts of evildoers like a guy wearing a green suit with glowing green accessories. Gumby: A green claymation icon, with arms and legs like noodles, and weird, bulging eyes. But hey, at least he’s flexible right? Baby Yoda (Grogu): He’s cute as a button, smart as a whip, and can cause you great difficulties if you piss him off. Think Leprechaun… Green M&M’s: They may not have any special powers or abilities, but damn, they’re sure delicious! Grass: Whether you smoke it, mow it, or just enjoy laying back and relaxing on it, this green plant never lets us down. So there you have it, 10 of our most favorite green things to celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day. Whether you’re Irish or not, whether you’re drinking green beer or not, whether you’re wearing green or not, whether you’re smoking it or mowing it, take a moment to appreciate all the green things in your life. And if you happen to run into a leprechaun, be sure to wish him a Happy St. Patrick’s Day and don’t forget to ask him where he hides his gold. You never know, he just might tell you. Let us know about some of your favorite green things in the comments below. Turning the Chicago River green on St. Patrick’s Day: #stpatricksday #saintpatrick #holiday #green #beer #guinness #irish #ireland #nyc #parade #leprechaun #ameriangods #neilgaiman #neilhimself #sweeny #egypt #money #kermitthefrog #thegrinch #shrek #gumby #incrediblehulk #thegreenlantern #grass #weed #chicago #anyhigh

March 8 is the day to celebrate the achievements of women from all over the world. And, ever since Congress passed the law in 1987, March has officially been known as Women’s History Month in the United States. From activists to politicians, businesswomen to athletes, there’s no shortage of impressive women to celebrate. And, because we love women from all walks of life, we thought today we’d offer up a salute to some women - from history and today - that might be unlikely heroic figures. Women who didn’t conform to the norms or expectations of their time. Perhaps they were a bit unconventional. Perhaps they kicked some serious ass along the way. But that, in itself is, something to celebrate we think. So, here’s our salute to 10 amazing ass-kicking women of history, who we consider inspiring. Most of whom you’ve probably never heard of. Ba Trieu: (226-248) A fighter for independence and forward thinker of the third century, Ba Trieu is also known as the Vietnamese Joan of Arc. At 19 she was advised by her brother, a powerful warlord, to marry, to which she defiantly retorted that she would be better off serving her people as a warrior for independence against the Chinese who had oppressed the Vietnamese for centuries, saying “I only want to ride the wind and walk the waves, slay the big whales of the eastern sea, clean up frontiers and save the people from drowning. Why should I imitate others, bend my back to men, stoop over and be a slave.” She gathered one thousand fighters whom she trained and led into battle. The rebellion was successful, and she was declared their leader. Today, she is a renowned national hero of Vietnam and a revered example to the country’s women of a fighter against oppression. Tamar the Great of Georgia: (1160-1213) Crowned by her father as co-ruler of the Georgian kingdom, she began her 29-year reign upon his death in 1184. She commanded one of the most unstoppable armies in history and under her rule, which became known as the Georgian Golden Age, Georgia became a major power. Today, there are many Tamar’s in Georgia, girls named after the great monarch who continues to inspire. Sybil Ludington: (1761-1839) An underrecognized heroine of the American Revolutionary War, on the same night that Paul Revere took his famous midnight ride, Sybil was off on a much longer ride of her own. After a messenger came to warn her father, Colonel Ludington, that the British had just attacked the nearby town of Danbury, Connecticut, Sybil rode over 40 miles (twice the distance of Revere’s ride) through the night to alert her father’s men of the approaching British army. Thanks to Sybil, the entire regiment was gathered by daybreak to fight the Redcoats. George Washington personally thanked Sybil for her bravery. Ada Lovelace: (1815-1852) Though not nearly as well-known as her father, the poet Lord Byron, Ada was pretty cool and way ahead of her time. Working with mathematician Charles Babbage to develop an adding machine, named the Difference Engine, and a computer called the Analytical Engine, Ada became the world’s first computer programmer. She came up with a process known as looping that computer programs use today. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named a newly developed computer language “Ada” in her honor. Mary Edwards Walker: (1832-1919) In addition to becoming the first female physician in the U.S. Army, Mary is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor. As a child she was teased for her non-gender-conforming wardrobe (she liked to wear pants) and was arrested several times as an adult for “masquerading” as a man. During the American Civil War she acted as a spy for the Union and spent months in a Confederate jail. In 1865 President Andrew Johnson awarded her the Medal of Honor because she “…devoted herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soldiers and has also endured hardships as a prisoner of war.” Congress tried to strip Mary of her medal in 1917 saying only those engaged in combat should be eligible for the award. Mary refused to give up her medal, wearing it every day until she died in 1919. Buffalo Calf Road Woman: (1850-1879) Nicknamed “Brave Woman”, Buffalo Calf Road Woman (BCRW for expediency’s sake) was a Cheyenne warrior who strategically fought and rallied others. In the 1876 Battle of the Rosebud against U.S. soldiers, BCRW rode onto the battlefield to rescue her injured brother. The rescue was so daring that it rallied the Cheyenne, who had been retreating, to victory. The Cheyenne called the battle The Battle Where the Girl Saved the Brother. She was an excellent shot and, during the Battle of Little Bighorn (also known as Custer’s Last Stand and as The Battle of the Greasy Grass by the Cheyenne) according to Cheyenne oral tradition, it was BCRW who unhorsed General Custer. She must certainly be considered one of the most heroic fighters in American history. Rose Marie McCoy: (1922-2015) Arguably one of the most successful American songwriters of the 20th century – that you’ve never heard of! She moved from Arkansas to New York City at the age of 19 to become a singer but realized that she was more comfortable at songwriting than performing. During her lifetime, McCoy published more than 850 songs that were recorded by music legends such as Ike and Tina Turner, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler and many more. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: (1900-1979) We all know that stars are made of hydrogen and helium, and the reason we know that is Cecilia. She made the discovery in graduate school but, at the time, no one believed her. Science was still very much an “old boys club” and established astronomers were convinced not to publish her findings. They later discovered that she was correct and famed astronomer Otto Struve called her work “undoubtedly the most brilliant Ph.D. thesis ever written in astronomy”. She went on to become the first woman to lead a department at Harvard and her work opened a whole constellation of opportunities for the female scientists that came after her. Martha Gellhorn: (1908-1998) Married for a short time to Ernest Hemingway, Martha famously said “Why should I be a footnote in someone else’s life?” She became a novelist, travel writer, and journalist and is considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century. She was the only woman at the D-Day invasion, witnessed the liberation of Dachau and reported on virtually every major world conflict that took place during her 60-year career. Her work changed war reporting and opened new horizons for female reporters and there is now an award named in her honor – the Martha Gellhorn Prize for journalism. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: (1933-2020) Okay, so maybe RBG isn’t exactly an “unknown” hero, but we just couldn’t leave her off the list. The second female justice to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, she fought tirelessly for gender equality and became a pop culture icon in the process. After a series of fiery, record-breaking dissents she gave from the Supreme Court bench in 2013 around the Voting Rights Act, she was dubbed The Notorious R.B.G. Pretty cool for a pretty staid profession. Plus, she had a wicked sense of humor and loved to rock a statement collar. So, there you have it. Our look at some unlikely, and mostly unknown, women heroes to inspire on International Women’s Day. These real-life icons have all made their mark in their own unique ways. Tell us about some women that have made a mark on your life in the comments below. #internationalwomensday #women #anyhigh

In modern times, people go to concerts and follow the lives of famous pop singers or reality TV stars. During the late 1700s and 1800s in France, guillotine executions were high entertainment, and some guillotine operators were national celebrities. People came to the Place de la Revolution in droves to watch the guillotine do its grisly work. The machine was honored in songs, jokes and poems. Spectators could buy souvenirs, read a program listing the names of the victims, or even grab a quick bite to eat at a nearby restaurant called “Cabaret de la Guillotine.” French guillotiners were closely judged on how precisely and quickly they could perform multiple beheadings. The faster and cleaner their cuts, the more famous they were. And the job of a guillotiner was often a family business. One of the most famous was the Sanson family who served as state executioners from 1792 to 1847 and were responsible for executing thousands of people, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. People would chant the Sanson’s name in the street before a beheading and their choice of clothing on the scaffold inspired fashion trends. While similar devices had been lopping off heads all the way back to antiquity, the name “guillotine” dates to the late 1700’s in France. The last use of the “National Razor”, as it became known, was in 1977 and it was officially decommissioned when France abolished capital punishment in 1981. We feel like we live in an era of an ever-evolving job market. We worry that industries we know and roles we’re comfortable with are disappearing. But the truth is the job market has been continually evolving from the beginning of time. Yesterday’s hot job almost always becomes tomorrow’s extinct dinosaur. Sometimes it can be scarry to see certain jobs disappear. Sometimes not. We thought we’d take look today at some unusual real jobs that used to exist but are no longer accepting applications. And for those of you who might be on the hunt for a new career, we’re wrapping up with some rather unusual jobs we’ve come across that actually do exist today. Gone And Pretty Much Forgotten Ornatrices: Tasked with making the nobility look presentable in ancient Roman society these women could be thought of as early hairdressers, except they were enslaved to their owners. They would craft unique concoctions that would style their owners’ hair. This included mixing rotten leeches, crushed insects, squid ink, and bile to create darker dyes, or spreading pigeon poop and ashes over their owners’ head to create a lighter hue. Lector: In the early 1900’s, factory workers needed some entertainment to distract from their mindlessly repetitive tasks, so a lector would read news and literature aloud to them from a raised platform located somewhere in the middle of the factory floor. Sometimes the factory workers would even contribute from their weekly salary to fund these lectors. Whipping Boy: Likely not one of the most sought-after jobs of ancient times, when a prince would misbehave, since it was against the rules to punish “royal blood” with a spanking, a whipping boy was assigned to the prince and would take the spanking for him. Knocker-Uppers: No, not what you’re thinking from the name. This was essentially a human alarm clock. A popular profession in Britain and Ireland in the early 19th century, these people were hired to go to homes to wake up sleeping workers. They would bang on a window if the client lived on the first floor. For higher floors they would carry a long stick to tap on the window or shoot peas through a tube at the window to wake up their clients. This position existed into the 1970’s in some parts of England. Groom of the Stool: In medieval England, servants assisted monarchs in virtually everything, including providing royal “assistance” when it came time for the king or queen to spend some time on the porcelain throne. The groom of the stool would constantly carry a portable commode with towels, a washing bowl, and water. While the monarch was doing their business the two would chat about events and, over time, this position became more of an advisor on fiscal policy, with the groom of the stool holding an unofficial position similar to that of treasurer. Apparently, finance and feces are more closely related than we knew. King Henry the VIII had four “grooms” and he knighted them all. Wool Fuller: Before fabric softener became a thing, people had a very peculiar way of making cloth, especially wool, feel more pleasant on the skin. Fullers would “full” the cloth using their feet and the main ingredient that made the fabrics softer was stale urine. The ammonium salts in urine would help to soften, cleanse, and brighten the cloth. Urine was even taxed because of how often it was used in the “fulling” process. Dating back to ancient Rome, the job of stomping around in other people’s old urine for hours at a time became especially important in medieval England, where wool production was a very lucrative business. Computer: This actually used to be someone’s title. Before electronics took over, these workers would convert figures and crunch numbers by hand. They literally computed. They worked in a variety of fields – including engineering at NASA – until they were replaced by what we more familiarly refer to today as “computers” Resurrectionist: Also known as “body snatchers”, resurrectionists would dig corpses out of graveyards and sell them to medical schools in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the time, the only legal way for medical schools to obtain a dead body was after a criminal execution, but demand outstripped supply, thus giving rise to the role of resurrectionist (pun intended). Legally speaking, stealing a dead body was only a misdemeanor. From a religious perspective, one might say it was a grave sin. Flatulist: Known as braigetoirs in Ireland, these were professional farters. Yes, this was a real job in times past. Flatulist work existed for a very long time. Saint Augustine, in the fourth century wrote about flatulists, “they possessed such command of their bowels and can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.” (Grammy awards committee, please take note!) Some became celebrities of their time such as Roland the Farter, who performed annually for the court of English King Henry II. The King was such big fan that he eventually rewarded Roland with 30 acres of land and a giant manor house. Accepting Applications Today Iceberg Mover: Your role will be to keep track of iceberg locations and offer safe detours around them. You also might be called on to tow an iceberg away from a specific location. This concept came into being after the sinking of the Titanic in 1911. An iceberg mover can expect around $70,000 annually. Pet Food Taster: These are humans hired to taste food meant for pets. You’ll be required to comment on the taste, texture, and packaging of the pet food. If you’re report is favorable, then our furry friends all over the world can enjoy it as well. $40,000 annually (antacids can be negotiated at time of hiring). Human Scarecrow: Similar to a human mannequin, but a more challenging job as it involves tolerating different kinds of weather and some bird waste. No specific body type required. $15/hour. Panda Fluffer: Pandas are notoriously challenging to encourage to procreate. Your job is to encourage them. You will use a feather duster – and a considerable amount of caution – to get these reserved animals in the mood. You can earn up to $20,000/year (and, one assumes, some life-long friends) at the China Giant Panda Protection & Research Center in Ya’an, Sichuan Provence, China. Paper Towel Sniffer: Your role will be to make sure that paper towel producers produce a high-quality product devoid of offensive odors. If you have a nose for paper towels, you could earn as much as $50,000 annually putting it to use. Dog Surfing Instructor: Yes, this is a thing. Apparently, there is a market for teaching dogs to surf. Professionals are hired to instruct owners and their pets in surfing. $13/hour. Adult Toy Tester: You will be employed to evaluate the novelty aesthetic appeal, and utility of prototypes of new adult toy goods. Skill set, we guess, depends upon the toy being tested. $25/hour. The fringe benefits speak for themselves. Train Pusher: As an “Oshiya” in Japan, your role will be to push passengers into overcrowded train cars, at peak hours, as quickly as possible by pushing them from outside until the doors close. $28,000/annually. Deodorant Tester: If you’re the type that enjoys poking your nose into other people’s business, then this could be the dream job for you. Your role is to stick your nose into other people’s armpits to evaluate how well deodorants are masking their body odor. $40,000/annually + free monthly smell test. So, as we all know, the job market is constantly evolving, leaving some professions in the dust while giving rise to new, and sometimes bizarre ones, all the time. It can definitely be a wild and scarry ride. Tell us about the craziest job you, or someone you know, has had in the comments below. #jobs #france #guillotine #dinosaur #rome #hairdresser #computer #king #petfood #panda #dog #surfing #japan #anyhigh