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Simo Hayha, The White Death

By prawn1 Tuesday January 26, 2010

Do you have a nickname? I’ve had a fair share of embarrassing ones (my middle name is bad enough – thanks ever so much, mom & dad.) and it’s generally disastrous to one’s street cred to have such nicknames divulged.

However, there are some people whose actions – be they good or bad – have earned themselves a reputation, and supremely awesome nicknames to match. One of those people is Simo Häyhä, or known more notoriously as the White Death.

Häyhä, a Finnish farmer and hunter by trade, started this military career in 1925, at the age of 20. It was during the Winter War (1939–1940), when Finland was being invaded by the Soviet Union that he shot to fame. Armed with a standard bolt action rifle and dressed completely in white camouflage, Häyhä ventured out into the bitter cold, and amassed what is the highest recorded number of confirmed kills in any major war. Over 100 days, the sniper extinguished 505 Soviet soldiers with his rifle and reportedly offed a further 200 of them with a submachine gun, bringing the body count to a staggering 705! Isn’t that just mind-blowing?

The frustrated Soviets sent out counter snipers and even an artillery strike, but the attempts failed to down the now infamous, White Death. Häyhä’s career came to an end in 1940 when he was shot in the jaw – he survived, but the injury blew off bits of his face and crushed his jaw. When asked whether he felt bad about his actions, he said, “I did what I was told to as well as I could.” The White Death passed away in 2002.

Read more about the White Death on Wikipedia and check out Listverse’s article on the top 10 well deserved nicknames.

[thanks Ranz]

The Trend Transit Map for Time Travelers

By prawn1 Thursday January 21, 2010

1 Comment

The Trend Transit Map for Time Travelers

Pulitzer Prize-winning author George Will is reported to have said that the future has a way of arriving unannounced.

I’m sure a lot of us think about what uncertainty the future holds for ourselves and that of mankind. It seems two futurists that I have never heard of – Richard Watson and Benjamin Frazer – wondered the very same thing, and put their heads together to come up with a staggering set of predictions for 2010 through to the year 2050!

The predictions are in the form of a subway map, called the trend transit map for time travelers and covers trends and predictions in the areas of society and culture, geopolitics, science and technology, transport, news and media, food and drink, the economy, and environment and climate.

Here are some “interesting” predictions I picked up from the map:

Within the next 5 years, the number of mobile phone subscribers will be four billion.
Prison ships may be the new detention centers between 2020 and 2025.
Cosmetic brain surgery could be arriving as early as 2035.
Pilotless, hypersonic airliners may be taking to the skies from 2020.
Robotic cops may secure shopping malls by 2025 the latest.
80% of the global population may be obese by 2030.
The first moon mine may be in operation between 2035 and 2050.

Have a look at trend transit map for time travelers (PDF) and let us know you think about the predictions.

[via The Awesomer]

“Alma” is Charming, a Little Creepy

By prawn1 Wednesday January 20, 2010

2 Comments

Alma is a short film by first time director Rodrigo Blaas and his team of creative designers. A winner of several animation awards last year, Alma is a story about a little boy who gets lured into a very odd toy store. It’s charming and a little unnerving, or maybe I’m just a big girl’s blouse. Check it out below.

Find out more about the short film at almashortfilm.com.

[via zefrank]

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

By prawn1 Tuesday January 19, 2010

7 Comments

If there was ever one TV series I wish would be brought back, it has to be Rome. For the two short seasons it was on for, Rome was a masterpiece to watch with the most elaborate sets and costumes, bloody violence, bared breasts, and deceit around every corner. Unfortunately, extremely high production costs doomed a fantastic series that had so much history to tell.

I had flashbacks to that beloved series when I saw the trailer to the upcoming tales about a Roman gladiator who becomes the leader of a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Here’s the synopsis to Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Betrayed by his country. Beaten into slavery. Reborn as a warrior. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a graphic and visceral account of Rome’s most famous gladiator. When he’s separated from the love of his life, Spartacus is forced into the gruesome and bloodthirsty arena, where a grisly death is primetime entertainment. Spartacus must fight for survival, befriend his enemies and play politics in this new world of corruption, violence, sex and fame. He’ll be seduced by power and tormented by vengeance. But his passion will give him the strength to prevail over every obstacle, in this modern and uninhibited tale of death, honor and endurance.

Have a look at the rollicking trailer below and let us know what you think.

Spartacus is played by Australian actor, Andy Whitfield. Lucy Lawless (Battlestar Galactica) plays Lucretia, who along with her husband Batiatus (played by John Hannah), own the slave. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is set to premiere January 22nd, 2010 in the United States, and a second season has already been confirmed. No word if/when it will get to South Africa.

[thanks for the tip, MAVADO]

People of Walmart: The Rap Anthem

By prawn1 Thursday January 7, 2010

6 Comments

If you missed it some time back, People of Walmart collects user-submitted photos of the cooky, bizarre, and sometimes disturbing menagerie of people that shop at the largest grocery retailer in the United States.

The site has become wildly popular, getting honourable mentions in Time Magazine, The Huffington Post, and CNN. It’s gone so viral that it now has its own rap song. Word? Word. From women who look good in pink to the best set of back tits, rapper JDirty introduces you to the people of Walmart. Enjoy but do note that some language in the video is NSFW.

I wonder if a local “People of Pick n’ Pay” would work? Probably not, when it comes to mentally deficient people with trouble dressing themselves, I think the U.S. has us beat.

[via Mashable]

AdFreak’s Creepiest Commercials of 2009

By prawn1 Tuesday January 5, 2010

9 Comments

…and the majority of them are PSAs. Because the easiest way to get through to people is to scare them into submission.

Adfreak reviews the year in advertising and compiles a list of the 30 most bizarre and creepy ads they have come across. The majority of the ads don’t push any products, but attempt to terrify one into thinking/caring about topics that they may not necessarily be bothered about. There are a couple of these rather freakish ads after the jump.

The Russians Have Hitler’s Skull. Or Do They?

By prawn1 Tuesday December 15, 2009

3 Comments

The Russians Have Hitler’s Skull. Or Do They?

This came out from a comment left on our Nazis in Colour post about Hitler dying in Brazil as a big drug dealer.

Given that my only knowledge of Hitler’s death comes from Wikipedia, I accepted the general notion that he topped himself with his Walther PPK in the Führerbunker on April 30th, 1945. However, after a second of Googling, an interesting article turned up.

A year after Hitler’s death, fragments of his skull fragments dug up by Russian forces, and ABC News reports that recently a US archaeologist by the name of Nick Bellantoni visited Moscow to work on those very fragments. He returned to the United States with a sample from the skull and a sample of blood from the sofa on which Hitler is said to have committed suicide.

After doing some complex DNA tests on the bone sample, Bellantoni concluded that the it wasn’t as robust as a male bone tends to be, and that it corresponded to a woman between the ages of 20 and 40. This startling discovery has been refuted by Vasily Khristoforov, the director of Russia’s FSB intelligence service archives who insists bones are definitely Hitler’s; the vice president of the Russian state archive, Vladimir Kozlov, however is not so sure, saying “No one claimed that was Hitler’s skull.”

Did the Führer pull a fast one and escape death? Read the full article and let us know what you think.

Oh, and in other news, Hayibo.com reports that terrorist extraordinaire Osama bin Laden has been found in KwaZulu-Natal’s upmarket Umhlanga neighbourhood, posing as a woman. Read that article.

The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon

By prawn1 Tuesday December 8, 2009

3 Comments

“It will kill you. Even if it takes the rest of your life.” Director Richard Gale’s comedy/horror short film has a title that is even longer than the tag line it describes.

“The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon” tells the story of everyday man Jack Cucchiaio is who is being stalked by the most relentless murderer of all time. The heinous creature intends on bashing Jack to death…with a spoon!

See the epic 10-minute trailer below or watch it in HD on YouTube – it’s a scream

Gale’s trailer has been viewed over 1.5 million times and the extended cut of the movie will soon be available on DVD. More info on that at www.richard-gale.com.

[via PS3ZA member Uberutang]

BONUS: Did you know that the longest movie title is “Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D”? [Source]

The Tetris God

By prawn1 Tuesday December 8, 2009

3 Comments

All this time I was under the impression that I controlled my fate. Now I found out there is a god, and he is vengeful.

[via BlackNotes]

The Twisted, Violent Worlds of Charlie Immer

By prawn1 Tuesday December 8, 2009

0 Comments

The Twisted, Violent Worlds of Charlie Immer

This is beautifully gross. Flights through other worlds can often be whimsical, but Charlie Immer is tired of that stereotype. The worlds created by this artist and illustrator from New York are harrowingly dangerous, where the creatures in the scenes are about to meet their end in a most brutal and gory way. Danger lurks around every corner, a cautionary tale indeed.

Have a look at some of his art after the jump.