I’m not back to full speed on my blogging–whatever that means–but I want to direct your attention today to news and items which are probably not worth your attention, but they will make for some darn interesting conversation with the certain people, maybe those people you’d like to avoid.

First, The Very Short List points out Abebooks’ Wierd Titles, a collection of books you may have seen at the used bookstore and wonder how the fruit something like that got published. Pratical titles like Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! and impractical ones like The Teach Your Chicken to Fly Training Manual. Of course, there are several of unsavory titles, and I don’t mean Critter Cuisine, the guide to dishes made from your backyard. Be forewarned.

Second, Obit Magazine has a feature story on bizarre deaths from this year. For example, “in Vienna, Austria, Gunter Link, a devout Catholic, grabbed a pillar at church as he gave thanks for being rescued from a stuck elevator.” Somehow the pillar supported a 860lb. stone monument and was unstable enough to topple and crush him. Worshippers attending Mass the next day discovered the body.