Polterabend

Polterabend is a German pre-wedding tradition where friends and family come together for an informal party. While that may not seem odd, what they do at these parties certainly is. They break dishes, flowerpots, tiles, toilets, pretty much anything except glasses or mirrors. To symbolize working together through future difficulties, the bride and groom must clean everything up. Due to the need to replace all the broken goods, I suspect that German sellers of housewares are quite fond of this custom.

Monkey Buffet Festival

No, this isn’t a festival that offers a variety of all-you-can-eat monkey dishes. Rather, the monkeys are the ones doing the feasting at this annual event in Thailand. Over 3,000 kilograms of fruit and vegetables are offered to the monkey population of the Lopburi province in Bangkok.

Gurning

A “gurn” is a distorted facial expression, and English rural tradition has celebrated making these humorous grimaces since 1267. At the World Gurning Championship in Egremont, England, competitors don a horse collar and attempt to make the most grotesque face possible. While this tradition sounds silly, some, like four-time world champion Peter Jackman, take it very seriously. He had his teeth removed in 2000 to make his facial maneuvers easier.

Camel Wrestling

A kinder, gentler version of bullfighting? Perhaps. In Turkey, camel wrestling is a popular event where spectators watch in glee as two specially bred male camels wrestle each other. Serious injuries are rare, but spectators should be wary of being sprayed by the milky saliva of the agitated camels.

Blackening the Bride

To prepare for their marriage, Scottish brides-to-be must go through a very foul pre-wedding ritual. Friends of the bride take her by surprise and cover her with eggs, spoiled milk, feathers, pretty much anything disgusting. The blackened bride is then paraded around town. The purpose of this custom is to prepare the bride for marriage because after going through that, any marital problems will seem like nothing.

Day of the Geese

The Day of the Geese, or Antzar Eguna, is a Spanish tradition in which a greased goose is suspended over water and young men jump from boats and attempt to rip off the head of the goose. This competition serves as a way for young men to prove their strength and eligibility to females. In addition to winning the adoration of young women, the winners also gets to keep the goose. Although this tradition was once practiced all over Spain with live geese, this competition is now only held during the San Antolin festival in Lekeitio, with a dead goose to placate animal rights activists.

Caganers

The people of Catalonia, Spain have quite the amusing Christmas tradition. They hide small statuettes of people defecating in their nativity scenes for friends and family to try to find. These figurines are called “caganers”, which is Catalan for “defecator” or “shitter”. This tradition has existed since the 17th century, and nowadays it is common for famous people to be immortalized in the form of a caganer figurine.

Food Binding

For about a thousand years, young Chinese girls had to undergo the painful and debilitating process of foot binding. To ensure small, desirable feet, girls between the ages of three and fourteen had their feet broken and bound with bandages, in order to prevent their feet from growing “too big”. Despite many attempts to ban this ritual, an effective prohibition of foot binding was not was not enacted until 1949, when the Communists took power of China.

Finger Cutting

While most cultures mourn the loss of family members, women of the Dani tribe in Indonesia must suffer great physical pain in addition to emotional pain. When a family member dies, female relatives must cut off a segment of one of their fingers. This practice is performed to satisfy ancestral ghosts. Luckily for the Dani women, this custom is rarely practiced anymore.

Bathroom Ban

The Tidong are a group of people from northern Borneo with a particularly uncomfortable wedding custom. For the 3 days and 3 nights following the wedding, both the bride and groom are prohibited from using the bathroom. That means no urinating, no defecating, and no bathing. They believe that custom will lead to a long, happy, and fertile marriage. In order to achieve this, the newlyweds are allowed to eat and drink only very small amounts and are watched very closely by family members.

Underwater Hockey

Games played with curved sticks and a ball have been played for thousands of years. First there was field hockey, then there was ice hockey, and now? Underwater hockey, of course. In this sport, which is also called Octopush, two teams of six try to push a puck using a stick into the opposing team’s goal. Although this sport is played around the world, it has not gained a major following. Perhaps because a sport played entirely underwater is not very spectator friendly.

Bossaball

Imagine a game of volleyball being played on the moon, and you’ve got the gist of bossaball. In this sport, each side of the court has a trampoline and each team of 3 to 5 players attempts to hit or kick the ball over the net to the opposing team’s side of the court. Like in volleyball, points are scored when the ball hits the floor.

Wife Carrying

Wife carrying, which originated in Sonkajärvi, Finland, is a sport in which male competitors race to carry their female teammate through an obstacle course in the shortest time. Not only does the winner of the Wife Carrying Championship in Sonkajärvi get the glory of being the number one wife carrier, he also wins his wife’s weight in beer. Although this sport would be very entertaining to watch, I can only imagine how funny it would be if the roles were reversed. Unfortunately, husband carrying hasn’t caught on yet.

Dog Surfing

This sport is further proof that animals are capable of more than we might imagine. Who knew that dogs could do more in the water than just doggy paddle? While this sport began in San Diego, there are now many dog surfing competitions all over southern California.

Unicycle Polo

As if just riding a unicycle didn’t look funny enough, add mallets and balls and you’ve got a truly wacky spectacle. I’m sure it’s a fun game for the participants, but just imagining unicyclists crashing into each other makes me burst into laughter.

Caber Toss

This sport is unique to this list, as it is the only one in which the participants wear skirts, err… I mean kilts. Caber toss is a traditional Scottish sport in which competitors throw large wooden poles called cabers. The object is not to throw the caber the furthest, but to have the top of it land near the thrower. This sport is thought to originate from the need to throw logs across gaps, in order to cross them.

Chess Boxing

The ultimate mash-up of brains and brawn, chessboxing is exactly what it sounds like. Competitors must be masters of both knocking out and checkmating opponents, as the sport involves alternating rounds of chess and boxing. I can only imagine that repeated blows to the head must affect their ability to develop chess strategies.

Cheese Rolling

Perhaps the only sport to involve food (besides competitive eating), cheese rolling is a tradition that is over 200 years old. Every year, on the Spring Bank Holiday, a round of cheese is rolled down Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, England. Competitors race down the hill after the cheese, and the first one to the bottom wins the cheese. As silly as this event sounds, injuries are common, and the 2010 cheese rolling has been canceled due to safety concerns.

Blind Soccer

Imagine how hard it would be to live life day-to-day without vision. Now imagine playing a game of soccer with the same impairment. While the visually-impaired are usually unable to participate in athletic activities, blind soccer is a truly inspirational exception. All of the players are legally blind, except for the goal keeper, and the soccer ball has pebbles in it so the players can tell where it is.

Ferret Legging

While many sports require enduring pain, this sport is just plain masochistic. Competitors tie their pants at the ankles, drop two ferrets in their pants, and see how long they can endure getting their genitals bitten and scratched. The world record for this painful competition is five hours and thirty minutes. It was set in 1981 by Reg Mellor, whose trick was to make sure the ferrets were well-fed before putting them in his pants.

A fan of all things FC Barcelona, the Spaniard has a flair for the political, most recently gracing the 2010 FIFA World Cup wearing a t-shirt that read “Jimmy Jump Against Racism”. Another Jimmy Jump sabotage with a positive message came during the 2008 UEFA Europe semi-finals, when Jimmy carried a Tibetan flag and wore a t-shirt with a pro-Tibet slogan.

Here are the top ten Jimmy Jump sport sabotage moments. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Jimmy is a master of invading sporting events.

1. UEFA Euro 2004

The first in a long string of high profile sports invasions for Jimmy, July 4, 2004 found Jimmy jumping his way onto the pitch during a match between Greece and Portugal. Jimmy was attempting to shame Portugal’s captain Luis Figo for “abandoning” FC Barcelona, his favorite team. His attempt at hitting Figo with a Barcelona team flag missed the mark, setting the stage for many of Jimmy’s inept attempts at sabotage.

Watch YouTube Clip

2. FIFA World Cup 2010

Before the start of the 2010 World Cup championship game between Spain and the Netherlands, Jimmy Jump attempted to place a hat on the Cup itself, but was tackled by nearly a dozen guards before he was able to get his hands anywhere near his prize.

Watch YouTube Clip

3. 2009 French Open Men’s Singles final match (Roger Federer)

This photo shows Jimmy attempting to cover eventual French Open champion Roger Federer’s head in an unidentified flag. Jimmy was eventually tackled by guards after tripping in an attempt to scale the net to freedom.

Watch YouTube Clip

4. 2010 Eurovision Song Contest

Wearing a shit emblazoned with the name of his website, Jimmy Jump made his way onstage during the Spanish presentation at Eurovision in 2010. His attempt at sabotage was unsuccessful this time, as Spain was allowed a “re-do” at the end of the contest.

Watch YouTube Clip

5. 2007 Rugby World Cup final

The beginning of the second half of championship play between England and South Africa was interrupted by Jimmy, though he was subdued before it was clear what he was attempting to do that day in France.

Watch YouTube Clip

6. UEFA Euro 2008 semi-final

This bit of Jimmy Jump sabotage is noteworthy because of its political aspirations. Wearing a shirt that says “Tibet is Not China”, Jimmy ran onto the pitch at the end of the match between Germany and Turkey.

Watch YouTube Clip

7. 2007 UEFA Champions League final

As Milan and Liverpool squared off in 2007, Jimmy Jump attempted to take advantage of the huge television audience by invading the field carrying an unidentified flag. Unfortunately for him, he received no airtime and was cut from the broadcast.

Watch YouTube Clip

8. 2006 UEFA Champions League

This performance by Jimmy (which predicted the transfer of Thierry Henry to FC Barcelona) would eventually cost him a £60,000 fine.

Watch YouTube Clip

9. 2004 Spanish Grand Prix

A rare appearance at a racing event found Jimmy Jump running right through the starting line, proving that Jimmy is brave, if not a little foolhardy.

Watch YouTube Clip

10. Real Madrid v Barcelona

On November 19th, 2005, Jimmy invaded the pitch during this La Liga match wearing a shirt that read (in Spanish) Jump Jump Jimmy Jump. As usual, he was tackled before endangering any players or fans.

Watch YouTube Clip

10. AC Spark Plugs

In the 1930s, AC Spark Plugs had an ad in The Saturday Evening Post that depicted an African American as being a small monkey in a suit. Many ads during that time used monkeys or small apes in place of African Americans.

9. Aunt Jemima

In 1939, Aunt Jemima was making the best pancakes. Aunt Jemima always used an African American lady who was supposed to be a slave as a spokesperson. On all of the ads, she used “slave” slang.

8. Van Heusen

Van Heusen had an ad for ties that showed a woman on her knees serving a man coffee. When did women become slaves?

7. Del Monte

In 1953, Del Monte ketchup bottles got new lids. The ad was a picture of a woman opening the bottle and it read “You mean a woman can open it?”.

6. Elliott’s White Veneer

In 1935, Elliott’s White Veneer came out with an ad that showed a young African American boy painting another young African American boy with the veneer. It stated “SEE HOW IT COVERS OVER BLACK”.

5. General Electric

In 1937 General Electric became racist, also. They came out with a new ad for a sink. The ad showed an African American lady, who was supposed to be a slave, standing by the sink and saying “I’se Sure Got a Good Job Now!”

4. Drummond Sweaters

Drummond Sweaters came out with a sexist ad that showed two men standing on top of a cliff, talking, while a woman dangled from a rope beneath them. The poster began by saying “Men are better than women”

3. Dacron

Dacron had a very sexist poster ad. The ad showed a picture of a lady on the floor with a rug for a body. A man was then standing on her head and was saying ” It’s nice to have a girl around the house”.

2. Cream of Wheat

Cream of Wheat had a poster ad of an African American man holding a chalkboard with a message written on it. Several words were misspelled as to say African Americans were ignorant.

1. Fairy Soap

Fairy Soap had a poster ad of a young white girl asking a young African American girl “Why doesn’t your Mama wash you with Fairy Soap?”. This siuggesting that African Americans were dirty.

10. Diddy

Before Diddy there was P-Diddy there was Puffy. Before that there was Puff Daddy. Before that even there was Sean Combs. What was little Sean running from that he had to change his name so many times? I’m guessing it was this picture.

9. Pharell Williams

Looking like a Samurai with an erasure head haircut, Pharell Williams proved to everyone in the business that stylists are indeed an important part of being famous. It’s just too bad he went from looking like the offspring of Godzilla and Papermate to dressing a little like the Joker.

8. Jay-Z

If anyone ever looked like they didn’t want to be somewhere it was young master Carter here in his (??) graduation picture. Jay-Z never finished high school, so this was as close as we could get to a graduation picture. Maybe he graduated from elementary school and grandma sprang for some pics? Maybe the face is because Jay-Z himself was a little confused by the cap and gown.

7. Snoop

Ranked in one of the Top 10 Most Likable Stoners of All-Time it’s hard to imagine  Snoop looking clean cut- but here is it. This is photo graphic evidence that Snoop Dogg actually did not spring forth from a sensimilla bud and onto MP3 players around the world. He looks a little like he just won a science fair somewhere.

6. Eminem

I’ve had debates about things in the past that had no bearing on anything. One of these is why little Marshal Mathers was so pissed off. Looking a little like the illegitimate son of Sylvester Stallone might have something to do with it. Yo Adrian!

5. Kanye West

Voted most likely to be someone- everyone shakes their head at. Kanye West spent most of his high school career snatching the chalk from teacher’s hands and giving sermons in class. “I don mean no disrespect or nuthin… but Columbus was whack. E’rybody knows that Magellian was the dopest explorer of all time!!!”

4. T.I

T.I. looks like the cover of a cereal box. Seriously. “It’s good for you and tastes good too.” His recent prison stint was neither kid tested nor mother approved however. Look for him to break out big(ger) in the future. I predict bigger things from this guy than we’ve seen from him so far even…. huge.

3. Ice Cube

“I’ll tumble for ya… I’ll tumble for ya… I’ll tumble for ya I’ll tumble for you”. Or wait wait… “Feel the beat of the rythm of the night…”

2. 50 Cent

50 Cent (pronounced Fiddy-Cen) looked like the kind of kid that you just couldn’t trust. IN FACT he looks like the kid that stole my bike.

1. Lil Jon

“How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?” You can ask Mr. Owl or Lil John. Late bloomers with latent smooth potential… bet NO ONE saw it coming.

]]> http://totallytop10.com/current-affairs/odd-news/top-10-famous-yearbook-pictures/feed 1 http://totallytop10.com/current-affairs/odd-news/top-10-science-fair-projects http://totallytop10.com/current-affairs/odd-news/top-10-science-fair-projects#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 09:27:45 +0000 wmmattler http://totallytop10.com/?p=5388 When I got this assignment all I could think was “They want me to make fun of kids!” Something I’ve been doing since like 5th grade. Easiest assignment all year.

10. Poopie Science

A sphincter says “what”? Tell me the kid is giving away brownie samples, and please please PLEASE let that be a brownie in his hand.

9. New From Hasbro

It’s the GQ Snoop Dog doll! Yup they built a robot to look like Snoop. With cool “roach action grip” and “thumbs up technology” this 7/10 scale action figure is sure to be a hit in 2010. No we get it, it’s really a stoned Carlton….”Drop it like it’s haaaawt”

8. Who’s The Looser?

Looking at these two it’s kinda hard to tell who lost out on this partnership. Still, the producers of Pancreas teamed up again to bring us Pancreas 2: Back to the Gland.… and this time it’s hormonal!

7. Dirty Joke

“That’s right Stella… get it going nice and fast and…” ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz. The poor girl with the wheel went from being called “four eyes” in fifth grade to starting Jr High as “Tread Face”. NOT NICE!

6. Dot Com Magnate

There’s no way in hell I’d trust this kid with my credit card information.

5. Big Business

The kid on the left is the son of a plastics manufacturer and the one on the right looks like the son of Donald Trump… yeah Son of Trump… Has a ring to it. I have to ask the same questions as Clarkson; Is Global Warming real? Why is Global Warming so cold? And why do I keep capitalizing it?

4. WHAT?!?!

Okay there was NO WAY I was buying this. There has been no report of HIV being transmitted during horse/man activities. Sexually transmitted diseases between barnyard animals and men might just be why Whales and portions of Scotland stay rural however… nah, still not buying it. AIDS isn’t funny kids… we’re not making fun of AIDS- just the retards who aren’t informed.

3. Animal WHAT?!

Trust me on this one kid- people who research animal magnetism never actually achieve it. Trying too hard yields zero results. HEY! LeTune, I should do a TOP 10 on this. Is the pick-up a science? You betcha! Ask Professor Getalot… he knows. The mustache is a nice touch though. I had one just like it when I was 8.

2. Coke-WHAT?!?!

I know… you’re wondering how I’m gonna rank on this one right? I’d love to be next to this project just so I could yell “COKE-LORE!?! Yeah buddy? Well, your Project’s a COKE-LORE! And your mom is too… beotch!” I went to a competitive school….. ***(If you didn’t get this joke say “coke-lore” five times fast.)

1. Finally… An Explanation

In an attempt to save his 4.0 grade point average C.A. Johnson explains why at times he cannot go to the chalkboard to do math problems. Following this lecture was a presentation on how to walk with your books strategically placed and the movie Pockets: Keeping it Loose.