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Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for another exciting edition of… OOB! (For those of you who don’t know, OOB occurs about once a month to try to catch you up on wierd, whacky news from around the blogosphere.)

Dumb News Dept.

Taking the definition of “dumb” in new directions, four Frenchmen were recently arrested in Madrid for filming themselves jumping in front of moving cars. Their business plan, apparently, consisted of “sell the videos on the internet and make big money”. Guess I can understand why they would be embarrassed to do it in their own hometown.

And then there’s this guy, who thought he could disassemble a rocket-propelled grenade himself… with a hammer. Alas, he’s dead now. Maybe a doctor should have prescribed these “anti-stupid” pills for them first?

On the other hand, maybe they’ll be famous after all… as a recipient of the Darwin Awards.

Delightfully Dumb Dept.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a list of dumb (and hilarious) domain names circulating the blogosphere. I saw it here first, but I don’t know where it started.

• A site called “Who Represents” where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity: www.whorepresents.com
• Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views: http://www.expertsexchange.com/ (note: site appears to have changed hands) (my note on the note: is that a joke?)
• Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at: www.penisland.net
• Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at: www.therapistfinder.com
• Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company at: http://www.powergenitalia.com/ (but the site may be offline now)
• And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.themolestationnursery.com
• If you’re looking for computer software, there’s: www.ipanywhere.com
• Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is: www.cummingfirst.com
• Then, of course, there’s the art designers and their website: www.speedofart.com
• Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their website at: www.gotahoe.com

Possibly Useful Information Dept.

Ever wonder what a million pennies looks like? Ten million? A billion? Well, as proof that there’s something for everyone on the Internet, The Megapenny Project can provide you with a simple visualization of what a stack of pennies looks like - from just one penny, to “all the pennies in circulation”. Actually, this may be more helpful than you think. If your kid (or you for that matter) have ever had trouble visualizing large numbers, this may help.

For fun, try extrapolating with objects by calculating them in “penny-units”, like this:

Average Twinkie = 2 pennies wide x 7 pennies long x 13 pennies high = 182 pennies

A billion Twinkies = 182 times the size of a billion pennies, or about 182 football fields of Twinkies. WOW!

I’d Rather Not Know Dept.

From blogger Improbulus at A Consuming Experience:

From the Feedback column of an old New Scientist magazine I was about to throw away.

On the packaging for Johnson & Johnson rectal thermometers: “Every rectal thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson is personally tested.”

I wouldn’t want to work as a tester for Johnson’s…!

Silver Lining Dept.

A check at Technorati reveals that out of the claimed 50.7 million blogs tracked, I can humbly report that Middle Zone Musings ranks 637,031! Let’s see… divide by 3… carry the 5… multiply by .891… well if my calculations are correct, that ranks me in the top 2% of all blogs tracked (1.274074%, actually).

If the “Long Tail” theory is really true, then I can see I’m making progress. Hey, thanks, readers! Keep those cards and letters coming! (Next goal: a five-digit rank)

Definitely Useless Information Dept.

Speaking of Technorati, you may or may not have noticed a new readout at the bottom of the sidebar on the right saying “My blog is worth…” followed by some dollar figure. I have absolutely NO idea how Technorati figures this out. I’m sure it has something to do with how many links you have, quality of said links, etc., etc. So if you’ve ever wanted to start a blog but didn’t want to start from scratch, I might be persuaded to sell you mine. Just make the check out to – (sound of blunt object hitting back of head)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!