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Friday, August 26, 2016
Many years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan said that Earth, viewed from other solar systems, would look like a pale blue dot. Now astronomers think they've found a habitable planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. They're calling their campaign to explore this new celestial body, "Pale Red Dot".

Guillem Anglada-Escude of Queen Mary University of London, who heads up a team of 30 scientists around the world at work on the campaign says, "We're talking about a planet that has very similar properties to Earth." But there are some very striking differences.
  • First, the planet is more massive than Earth and orbits its star every eleven days, making for a super short "year" in Earth terms. 
  • Second, if you were able to stand on the planet, it would definitely look like an alien world because only one side of the planet ever faces its star, making it seem as if the star is stationary in the heavens. 
  • Third, though the official name of the planet is the dry and boring "Proxima Centauri b" the planet is so orange that its atmosphere would give the impression of a perpetual "autumn sunset". Which is why everyone calls it the Pale Red Dot.
The Pale Red Dot is about 4.25 light years away, which might seem like a long distance to you and me, but to astronomers, it's a short trip down the cosmic street. Villanova University astronmer Edward Guinan says with our current technology we can travel at about one tenth of the speed of light. Which means humans could be there in about 50 years.

It might be a bit early to start packing your bags for the half-century trip, but according to Guinan, a trip to the Pale Red Dot is totally "feasible". Which is why 'visit the Pale Red Dot' is the newest Thing on my Bucket List.

See you next week,
Bobby

 
Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, August 19, 2016
Treasure hunters in Poland are looking for the famed Nazi Gold Train. Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper are convinced the train is buried under the city of Walbrzych, claiming that they located it with radar equipment. Adding to the hysteria and ensuing 'gold rush' to the city, one government official even said he was 99% sure that the train was there.

Despite the fact that many researchers say the Thing never existed, the treasure hunters press on. Despite the findings of geological experts from a Krakow university who used magnetic detection equipment to basically prove there was no train there, they press on. Despite the fact that it makes absolutely no sense for the the Nazis to try to smuggle gold, art and weapons from Walbrzych to Waldenburg, where the approaching Soviet Army would be almost sure to find it, they press on.

That's the Thing about treasure. It's all about the hunt. It's about the off chance that you might hit someThing with your shovel. And that Thing might just turn out to be the best Thing ever.

See you next week,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, August 12, 2016
From pollsters to pundits to statisticians, everyone is trying to predict the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Given the history and accuracy of previous predictions, I don't hold out a lot of hope for accuracy. You might get a better read on the whole Thing from your local neighborhood psychic.

Polls and stats aside, I recently stumbled on three weird and wacky ways people are trying to predict the unpredictable.
  1. What Did Oscar Say?  Jacopo della Quercia of Cracked Magazine says the prediction is as simple as popping popcorn. If the movie that wins the Oscar for Best Picture in the election year has a happy ending, the sitting party wins. The other party only wins if the movie has a sad ending. This year's winner is a bit of a toss-up since it's hard to tell if the end of Spotlight was happy or not.
  2. Olympic Incumbents. I'm not sure who came up with this one, but it is true that every year since 1968 (with the exception of '88), incumbents held on to the Oval Office if the country who hosts the summer games has hosted before. This doesn't bode well for Dems since Brazil is an Olympic first-timer. 
  3. How Did the Los Angeles Lakers Play? Since 1960, Republicans have won the White House if the Los Angeles Lakers played in that year’s NBA Finals. It doesn't matter if the Lakers win — they just have to make the finals. If you're a hoops fan, I don't have to tell you that the Lakers' abysmal performance last season isn't a good Thing for GOP hopefuls.
Me, I don't know who will win. But I have one very happy prediction that I know will come true: it will all be over when we vote in 87 days.

See you next week,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
Friday, August 5, 2016
An outbreak of UFO sightings all over the world has conspiracy theorists talking, ufologists salivating and skeptics snorting with their usual derision. But a deeper look might lead you to believe that someThing really is going on here.  Or rather, up there.

First, a gold UFO was spotted orbiting above the clouds on NASA's own high definition cameras aboard the International Space Station. The video seems to show an enormous Thing hovering over the earth before the camera suddenly "cuts out". Watch:



Next, a huge city (roughly the size of the supposed gold UFO) was seen in the clouds in several locations in China. The phenomenon was witnessed by hundreds of Chinese citizens in the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangxi. And other "cloud cities" have been witnessed across the globe. See for yourself:


Right here in Florida, there's been at least five sightings over the last week by one person alone. The man (who wishes to remain anonymous) reported his sightings to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). After making his report, the witness says he got a visit from the Men in Black. The men  described themselves as “government agents" and ordered him to stop telling his story. The MIBs returned twice more, using "threats and intimidation" against the man and his family. But countless others saw and filmed similar events. And everyone is talking about it. Check out this video from a different source:


Now, I'm not sure what those Things really are. But given the state of our earth right now, I wouldn't be surprised if a race like Star Trek's Vulcans decided to intervene and help us clean up our act. Of course, that's the best case scenario. The worst case? That's someThing I don't want to think about...

Keep your eyes to the skies and I'll see you next week,
Bobby

Posted by: Bobby | 8:00 AM | permalink
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