For the last six months, Sally Davies has been photographing the same McDonald’s Happy Meal. Apparently, and disturbingly, it hasn’t changed a bit.

(Photos via Sally Davies)

Davies started doing this after reading about Karen Hanrahan, who’s kept a burger for twelve years. A friend of Davies’ didn’t believe it, so she decided to reproduce the results. From Hanrahan’s page

Note that it looks exactly like it did the very day I bought it.

The flecks on the burger are crumbs from the bun.

The burger is starting to crumble a bit.

It has the oddest smell.

To be sure, this isn’t science. That said, it is nauseating.

If you laughed or shuddered about Insane Clown Posse’s “Miracles” (famous for the line “Fucking magnets, how do they work?”), you may find this interview interesting and depressing in a darkly comic way. It’s a revealing look at Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, who’ve recently come out as evangelical Christians, despite two decades of spewing hate and violence.

Perhaps the best bit is when Violent J is attempting to explain the reason the duo wishes to remain joyfully ignorant to how magnets work:

“Well,” Violent J says, “science is…we don’t really…that’s like…” He pauses. Then he waves his hands as if to say, “OK, an analogy”: “If you’re trying to fuck a girl, but her mom’s home, fuck her mom! You understand? You want to fuck the girl, but her mom’s home? Fuck the mom. See?”

Read the whole thing, and see if it makes any more sense in context.

Back in 2004, Kimbra Hickey was paid $300 for a two-hour photo shoot featuring her hands. Since then, the results of that shoot have been seen on the cover of millions of copies of Stephanie Meyer’s book Twilight. Now, Ms. Hickey is apparently trying to cash in on the immense popularity surrounding the vampire series.

The good-natured Hickey sometimes hangs out near the cash register at the Barnes & Noble near her Greenwich Village apartment to spread the word. Surprised customers sometimes ask her for her autograph or to trace the outline of her hand on the book jacket.

She even carries around a Gala apple in her purse at times so she can recreate the pose for people.

Alternately, surprised customers do anything they can think of to appease the strange woman accosting them as they buy books for their 13-year-old daughters.

“I see people reading it on the subway, and I say, ‘Those are my hands! I’m a hand model!’ ” she explained. “I’m sure they think I’m crazy — a crazy lady on the subway.”

Thankfully, you’ve got that apple in your purse as proof!

As a friend noted upon reading about this example of FBI ineptitude, it’s a good thing there are so few real terrorists.

On a related note, did you know the government can now track you via GPS, without a warrant? According to the 9th Circuit Court, your driveway isn’t really private property, and warrants are an unnecessary hindrance. That’s paraphrased, of course.

It’s a day of follow-up links here on OFT. In discussing magnetic desk toys, I specifically pointed to Buckyballs because of the amusing warning found on their case. There are, however, many companies which sell a similar (and similarly-dangerous) product.

One such company is Zen Magnets. Apparently, Zen Magnets has been competing based on the superior quality of their product, and this has raised the hackles of Jake Bronstein of Buckyballs. Slashdot summarizes and there’s also a somewhat-bizarre, more-than-a-little obsessive video Zen Magnets made¹ to explain things.

On the one hand, it seems Jake Bronstein of Buckyballs is kind of a jackass, and it’s regrettable to have promoted his company. On the other hand, the folks from Zen Magnets don’t acquit themselves well with their video. So, what magnetic desk ball toy should you buy? Hard science seems to show that Zen Magnets are ultimately the way to go, but who would have guessed that such a simple toy could cause so much anxiety?

Footnotes:

1. In case this YouTube link dies, the movie is also mirrored here. ↩︎

You may recall reading about Jason Grodensky a couple weeks back, who had the misfortune of having his home foreclosed upon by Bank of America, despite the fact that he had purchased the house outright. Shortly after this fiasco was exposed, Bank of America announced that they were halting foreclosures in 23 states. Why? They need to determine if they rushed the foreclosure process without even reading the relevant documents.

So, why only 23 states? From the article:

In some states, lenders can foreclose quickly on delinquent mortgage borrowers. By contrast, the 23 states in which Bank of America is delaying foreclosures use a lengthy court process. They require documents to verify information on the mortgage, including who owns it.

Requiring documents to verify the validity of the mortgage – imagine that. Predictably, the banks are already working to ruin this improvement.