In recent days, a photo of a 100-year-old tamarind tree with branches that look amazingly like the open legs of a naked woman became an Internet sensation.

The tree, which is purportedly located at a police station in Thailand's northern province of Phayao, was said to not only resemble a woman's sex organ, but also has the numbers "008" printed mysteriously on the trunk.

A vagina-shaped tree in Thailand reportedly helped people win a local lottery. But could this be a hoax? The first English-language paper to publish this uncredited photo is the Phuket Gazette.


Grandfather Rock on Lamai Beach in Thailand is another sexually suggestive tourist attraction.

In most cases, a tree that resembles a female's private parts would be amazing enough, but the story goes that locals who saw the mysterious numbers chose to play them in the lottery -- and won.

The story originally appeared the Thai-language newspaper Thai Rath, but was picked up by Tabloid Prodigy from an English-language rewrite in the Phuket Gazette.

Thongphian Thammakhan, 50, the owner of a shop on the police station grounds, supposedly told the Rath that the tree is about 100 years old. She said the tree has always had the gash in the trunk but has only recently developed the shiny mound. Villagers are apparently unsure as to why the lump shines.

However, there are aspects to the Vagina Tree story that smell funny to skeptics like Richard Rubacher, an expatriate writer living in Bangkok.

"None of the locals I've spoken with have even heard of the tree," said Rubacher, who has been living and writing about Thailand since 2001. "One tourism official just laughed and said, 'It's a hoax.' "

Rubacher believes that a tree shaped like a vagina is hard to miss and says that its existence wouldn't go unnoticed in Thailand.

"On the island of Koh Samui, about 400 miles from Bangkok, there are two rock formations that resemble male and female genitalia and they are very popular -- families flock to it," Rubacher said. "So you'd think a tree like this would have been reported before."

Adding to his skepticism is the fact that the story hasn't been reported in either of Thailand's top English-speaking newspapers, The Bangkok Post and The Nation, although he said the Phuket Gazette is considered reputable.

Rubacher interviewed Songsak Wannawijit, a police official who works at the station where the alleged vagina tree is located and he adamantly denied the existence of the sex-organ-shaped tree.

"I never heard of such a tree," Songsak said, before excusing himself for a moment to look outside. "I just looked at the court yard again. The vagina tree is not there."

Rubacher said the police official insisted that news reports about the tree's existence are definitely a "gohok," the Thai word for hoax.

He added, "If anyone had won the lottery, I would have known, as this would have been big news around here."

Until the veracity of the vagina tree can be proved, fans of sex-organ-shaped trees have to focus their attention on a vagina tree in McCarren Park in Brooklyn, and that has Brooklyn boosters like The Brooklyn Paper editor Gersh Kuntzman rubbing their, uh, hands with glee.

"I think I speak for all Brooklynites who love vaginas -- and I'm speaking for a lot of people, so I understand the gravitas -- when I say that the only place to truly enjoy a vulva of any kind is in McCarren Park."

aolnews.com

After exploring the world of gorgeous supermodels naked in the Amazon (not the website) with our tour guide Terry Richardson, we came to the conclusion that he has a job that most men would die, or kill, for. Everyone has a vice; it could be women, cars, spirits, ice cream or music, it just depends on the individual. We set out to find the guys who are doing the things we enjoy doing on a regular basis – but they’re getting paid for it. The only thing you need to figure out by yourself is where to sign up.

Terry Richardson – Photographer

You can read all about Terry’s accomplishments and accolades while checking out the Pirelloi 2010 Calendar, but you would gladly sacrifice yourself to be him. As a final parting thought about his job, when was the last time you got to suck on the digits of the Gossip Girls? Just sayin’.

Jonathan Cutler – Brewmaster

Jonathan Cutler (middle) is the Brewmaster for Piece Brewery and Pizzeria in Chicago. Saying that Jonathan is good at his job is like saying Usain Bolt is good at running. Cutler (for his work at Piece) has earned eighteen medals (compared to Bolt’s 16) and also received the World Beer Cup Champion Small Brewery and Brewmaster Award. Jonathan is the grown-up equivalent of the Candy Man – he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good. Not only that, he drinks for free… all the time.

Quentin Tarantino – Director, Actor, Writer, Producer, et al.

Tarantino may be responsible for award winning films like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill(s), and Inglourious Basterds, but he used to be a lowly clerk in a video store. He managed to turn his passion for film into one of the most successful Hollywood “bootstraps” story – without ever setting foot in a film school. If any of us were to blatantly display our foot fetish in the modern media like he does we would be excommunicated and disowned. With Tarantino it just becomes another part of his genius. Love him or hate him, he gets to do what he loves for a living… and get paid exorbitant sums of money for it.

Derek Spors – Ice Cream Scientologist

You know who Ben & Jerry are, but they didn’t make their boutique ice cream shop the global powerhouse it is all by their lonesome – they had help. Derek Spors was an “ice cream scientologist” whose sole job was the creation of new flavors for Ben & Jerry’s. He was often tasked with going to restaurants and ordering every dessert on the menu, taking trips to trendy new restaurants, and tasting ice cream all day. Sounds like a very horrid existence. Somehow he managed to get his creations into approximately 67% of the homes in America (Ok. The statistic is made-up, but everyone loves Ben & Jerry’s so it HAS to be a big number.) and maintain relative anonymity. Granted, he’s not going to be mauled on the street for autographs, or chased by the pap – but he manages to stay socially connected with LinkedIn and a website without having a picture of himself on the Internet. That, in and of itself, may be more impressive than eating ice cream all day. On second thought, eating ice cream all day sounds pretty damn delicious.

Bill Graham – Concert Promoter

There are only a few jobs that afford you rock star luxuries (fame, fortune, drugs) without the obvious risks (disease, selling out, one-hit-wondering) and being a concert promoter is one of them. Bill Graham just happens to be one of the most famous. He ran both Fillmores and Winterland and rubbed elbows with the likes of the Stones and the Dead. Instead of buying tickets to see a concert at an overcrowded, expensive, dilapidated venue, just call the band up and have them rock YOUR venue – V.I.P. style. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig.

Jeremy Clarkson – Motoring Journalist / Car God

When you’re Jeremy Clarkson every day is casual Friday. You can wear jeans to the office every day because the office is a decommissioned airfield and hangar. Regular journalists may get special access to events or even cool new products to test. Enjoy your new wallet because Bugatti just delivered a Veyron to Clarkson so he could race it against a jet – or a Cessna – or a McLaren F1 – or drive to 253mph. Some say he refuses to drive cars that won’t spontaneously catch on fire, and he hates the smell of hair care products because it overpowers the gasoline smell. All we know is he’s called Jezzer.

Eran Egozy & Alex Rigopulos – Video Game Developers

Eran was a geek interested in music; Alex was a musician interested in geek. They met at MIT in the Media Lab and then founded Harmonix. That is how your Friday night was born and countless millions discovered the music their parents were listening to decades before. Do they have to tell people what to do and rock out with plastic instruments on the conference room table? Yeah, they do, but they also get to play video games all day. Is there anyone that doesn’t want to play video games all day? Now that’s “star power.”

Frank Miller – Artist

Madness? MADNESS?!?!?! This. Is. A. Dream. Joooobbbbbbbbbbb. You’ve seen 300, The Dark Knight, Sin City, and probably seen something inspired by Miller’s film-noir style comics, writing, and graphic novels. He gets to set his own hours, turn down calls from Stan Lee and New Line Cinema, and leverage his words by the thousands when he turns them into pictures and movies. When asked about his inspiration, Miller had this to say – “I like to draw hot chicks, fast cars and cool guys in trench coats. So that’s what I write about.” The autobiographical graphic novel turned screenplay turned film is sure to be epic.

R. Lee Ermey – Sergeant / Gun Nut

Think Jeremy Clarkson except with guns. He transitioned from his role as a Marine Drill Instructor into starring roles in films like Full Metal Jacket and Toy Story. Now he has Lock N’ Load on the History Channel, which is basically an exploration of weapons – both primitive and modern. One week he might be shooting traditional Chinese dynasty rockets; the following he could be testing the M134D 3,000 rounds per minute Mini-Gun. Big guns, big voice, big balls – he’s not a celebrity, he’s a role model. When you fire guns and yell all day you can get away with murder…even if it involved unscrewing someone’s head and shitting down their neck. OOHRAH!

coolmaterial.com

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The ever-present hum of the vuvuzela during this year's soccer World Cup catapulted the plastic trumpet to prominence and now it has earned a place in the Oxford Dictionary of English.

Vuvuzela is among 2,000 new words and phrases added to the third edition of the dictionary, published on Thursday, which is compiled from analysis of two billion words used in everything from novels to internet message boards.

The credit crunch features heavily in this year's additions, with terms such as "overleveraged," having taken on too much debt and "quantitative easing," the introduction of new money in to the money supply by the central bank, among those included.

"Staycation," a holiday spent in one's home country, and "bargainous," costing less than usual, also reflect the hot topic of belt-tightening among consumers during the economic downturn.

The rise of "social media," itself a new term, has spawned several additions, including "defriend," removing someone from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site, and "tweetup," a meeting organized via posts on Twitter. Other words include:

Bromance: a close but non-sexual relationship between two men

Buzzkill: a person or thing that has a depressing or dispiriting effect

Cheeseball: lacking taste, style or originality

Chillax: calm down and relax

Frenemy: a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry


reuters.com

Living through a recession can do it, and so can living on the Greek island of Icaria. And if you put on weight, it'll help. Scientists are always finding new ways to help you extend your lifespan. Just last week, new research showed that men tend to live longer when they are married. Here's a list of unusual ways to guarantee a long life:

1. Make friends
Researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina found that people with poor social networks (aka few friends) are 50 percent more likely to die sooner than those with "robust social ties." Having a large social circle, says the study, can make as much difference to your life expectancy as a life without smoking cigarettes.

2. Win a Nobel prize
Researchers found that Nobel prize winners lived 1.4 years longer than nominees who didn't win. "Walking across that platform in Stockholm apparently adds about two years to a scientist's life-span," economist Andrew Oswald tells New Scientist. If you're unlikely to attract recognition from the Nobel community, then don't worry — the study suggests that social status can influence longevity, so just make sure people think highly of you.

3. Take the pill
Women who take the pill for an average of four years reduce their risk of dying from illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, according to a group of British researchers. But the study looked at women who started taking the pill in the 1960s, meaning the results may not be applicable for women taking today's drugs.

4. Move to a Greek island
Specifically, the Greek island of Icaria, where almost one in three people lives into their 90s. Researchers studying the islanders concluded that the Icarians' active lifestyle and healthy Mediterranean diets (lots of fruits, vegetables, and olive oil) helped the island maintain the highest percentage of nonagenarians on the planet. More good news? There are plenty of properties available on the island.

5. Live through a recession
It may give scant relief to those struggling to find work during the current downturn, but a University of Washington study suggests that recessions in the 20th century led to declines in mortality. Unemployed people were more likely to give up expensive vices like smoking and drinking, says the study, and less likely to die from work-related injuries or car accidents.

6. Put on a bit of weight...
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Portland followed over 11,000 adults over 12 years and found that those who were slightly overweight were 17 percent less likely to die during the 12-year study. "It may be that a few extra pounds actually protect older people as their health declines," David Feeny, a coauthor of the study tells CNN.

7. ...in one place in particular
Women with large rear ends are less likely to suffer heart and metabolic diseases than non-curvy ladies, says a study by Oxford University. That's apparently because fat stored in this area absorbs harmful fatty acids. "Women who have large thighs shouldn't be anxious about it," the report's author tells the New York Post.

8. Learn a foreign language
Learning a foreign tongue can help stave off Alzheimer's and other common age-related diseases, according to author Dr Andrew Weil. "You don't have to master it," he tells ABC News. But just the act of learning something new is like "running different software through the brain."

9. Work near ornamental plants
Waxy-leaved plants like English ivy and ferns soak up harmful indoor air pollutants, reducing stress levels and increasing overall health, says a study by the University of Georgia. The healthiest ornamental plant to have in your cubicle is the purple heart plant, says the study, which can be bought online for as little as $4.

theweek.com

Gay marriage is a hot issue right now, but it's not as titillating as another battle for equality: the right for women to go topless in public.

That right is a fundamental one, according to the folks behind Go Topless, an organization dedicated to the belief that in order for America to be a truly equal society, women should be able to bare their breasts without fear of being arrested.

Protesters prepare to march during National Go Topless Day" to honor Women's Equality Day at Venice Beach in Los Angeles on Aug. 23, 2009.

Go Topless has been around since 2007, and its big push is Go Topless Day, an annual event held on the Sunday closest to Aug. 26, which is Women's Equality Day, the anniversary of the day women were given the right to vote.

Women in nine U.S. cities -- Seattle, New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Honolulu, San Francisco and Austin, Texas -- will gather in public spots on Aug. 22 to put the hot-button issue front and center by wearing little more than strategically placed stickers.

In addition, male supporters of the cause will show their support by wearing bras and bikinis.

A male protester wears a bikini top as he prepares to march during National Go Topless Day to honor Women's Equality Day at Venice Beach in Los Angeles on Aug. 23, 2009.


Read the entire article here.

For some women, weight control is more important than sex, according to a new poll of 1,001 people.

About half of women say they would rather go without sex for the summer than gain 10 pounds. A fourth of men feel the same way.

OBESITY: Can weight down your sex life


More people say they would rather shed 10 to 20 pounds during the summer than get promoted at work.

Of course, weight loss would make them feel sexier. About 66% of people say they need to lose weight to feel sexier than they currently do. It would take a loss of an average 23 pounds to feel hotter.

"What this shows is that people are highly motivated to not gain weight," says Bruce Daggy, vice president of research and development for Nutrisystem. "They recognize what it will do to their feeling of well-being and fitness."

Another poll conducted a few years ago for Fitness magazine found more than half of Americans say they'd rather lose their jobs than get fat.

Other findings from the Nutrisystem poll, conducted by Kelton Research for the diet company:

•Three-quarters of both men and women would have been willing to give up something — such as watching TV, shopping, using a cellphone or computer for the summer — for a flat tummy.

•Almost half say they don't diet because they don't want to give up their favorite foods.

•About a third don't want the inconvenience of dieting, and a quarter don't want to deal with the stress.

•Half of dieters have tried to lose weight within the past two years.

•A third have tried over the past year.

•About half say that you have to start planning in the winter (January through March) to get your body in shape for summer.

•Participants in the survey attemped to diet an average of 13 times in their lifetime — women, 16 times; men, 8.

SUMMER SACRIFICES

What people said they'd give up for the summer in exchange for a flat stomach:
- Watching tv: 54%
- Shopping: 54%
- Using a cellphone: 42%
- Using a computer: 36%
- Having sex: 21%
- Showering: 6%

Source: Poll of 1.001 sponsored by Nutrisystem
By Frank Pompa, USA TODAY

usatoday.com


1) Einstein got bad grades in school.

Generations of children have been heartened by the thought that this Nobel Prize winner did badly at school, but they’re sadly mistaken. In fact, he did very well at school, especially in science and maths (unsurprisingly).

2) Mice like cheese

Mice enjoy food rich in sugar as well as peanut butter and breakfast cereals. So a Snickers bar would go down much better than a lump of cheddar.

3) Napoleon was short.

He was actually around 5ft 7, completely average for the 18th/19th century.

4) Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.

Edison invented a lot of things – in fact he’s one of the most famous inventors of all time – but the light bulb wasn’t one of them. What he did was develop a light bulb at the same time as the British man, Joseph Swan, who came up with it originally.

5) Lemmings throw themselves over cliffs to commit suicide

The poor old things are sometimes so desperate for food that they do, according to the BBC «jump over high ground into water», but they aren’t committing group suicide.

6) Water flushes differently in different hemispheres

No it doesn’t. Sorry!

7) Humans evolved from apes

Darwin didn’t actually say this, but he’s been misreported ever since. What he did say was that we, and apes, and chimpanzees for that matter, had a common ancestor, once, a long, long time ago.

8) Vikings had horns/helmets with horns.

Vikings may have been buried with their helmets and with drinking horns. When they were dug up by the Victorians, they assumed that the helmets had horns.

9) Columbus believed the earth was flat

He may not have known how big the world was, but he wasn’t worrying about falling off the edge of it.

10) Different parts of the tongue detect different tastes

You do have different taste buds on your tongue and some are more sensitive than others. But they aren’t divided into perfect, easy-to-teach sections.

smilepanic.com

Funny cartoon of the day

Funny cartoon of the day