Summer is almost over, but it doesn’t mean there’s still isn’t time to sport some fish flip flops. Why not? There’s not really much to say about these except… here they are in all their fishy glory.
polypropylene
Dare to be little eccentric, new trend.
MD sole. MD is a lightweight, elastic and shockproof material for making soles.
Funny indoor slipper. Fish-shaped slippers, a great gift and collection.
With high density, high elastic anti-skidding sole, no glue, light not only, more wear-resisting.
Suitable for beach, swimming, and other leisure casual occasions. Easy to wear and wash.
This is when Kim Jong-un will finally formalise his own succession and set out his agenda. The build-up is part of the mystique and it is here that he will try to balance all the competing interests within the party, army and the state.
This is the craziest of all the Kims.
The congress is also a public opportunity for him to reward loyalists; those who helped his father and those who helped him in his transition. He will also appoint some people his own age into lower-tier positions, a kind of regime-in-waiting.
What took them so long?
The last one, the 1980 congress, was five years overdue. According to the Party Charter, a party congress is “the supreme organ of the party” and should be convened every five years.
But in lieu of a full congress, the party can convene a party conference. The Workers’ Party of Korea didn’t do this until 2010, 30 years later. At that meeting they took out the five-year requirement. It is hard to say exactly what has taken so long, but in this time the Communist world would radically change. There are now far fewer international delegations who might be able to make it. The economic plans that used to be announced at such events, were no longer relevant either.
What is it for?
The congress will determine the role of and elect members of the party’s leading institutions. It is also there to amend the Party Charter.
The Party Charter sets out how the party is organised, how the party bodies relate to North Korea’s government, military, society, economy and culture. It is also an ideological document with a preamble that gives a broad definition of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s views on a number of different domestic and international issues. These will inform North Korean policies until the next congress.
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What happened in 1980?
The last Party Congress was held in October 1980. It served as the first event at which Kim Jong-il was publicly identified as the successor to his father, North Korean founder Kim Il-sung.
Essentially, it formalised Kim Family rule through hereditary succession, ushered in changes to North Korea’s political institutions and brought in a new generation of officials, some of whom remain in power to this day.
One wrong move by any of these brown-nosers and it could be the firing squad.
If you snooze you lose goes the old adage. Getting up early and starting the day bright eyed and bushy tailed is the way to success for the go-getters out there. The downside is having to get disrupted out of deep sleep by noisy contraptions. Here are some strange alarm clocks that will force a person to jump into the rat race at full speed.
The Sub Morning cleverly lures you to the bathroom, by forcing you to submerge it in water
Once you get to the bathroom, you’re basically in the shower already and, once you’re in the shower, the day has officially begun.
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Clocky leaps off your nightstand and runs away, making you chase it around the room to shut off the damn beeping
This sneaky little thing forces both your body and your wits into action.
Target Alarm Clock
If you are a sucker for shooting games, you must try this Target alarm clock. The rules are easy: the clock will sound the alarm based on the time you set, and you need to stop it by using the laser target gun to shoot the bullseye.
I.Q. test first thing in the morning
This Sonic Grenade alarm clock is guaranteed to get your sleepy children out of bed. Just pull the pin, throw the grenade into the room and get out of the way as it emits an ear-piercing noise.
The Rocket Launcher alarm clock will really “launch” you from your bed. When the alarm goes off, it shoots a rocket off in your room, and the only way to turn it off is to locate the rocket and place it back on the launch pad.
The toughest part about waking up for many people is physically getting out of bed. Luckily, the Carpet Alarm Clock helps you work through the hard part, by forcing you to stand up and step on the mat to turn it off.
A jaw-dropping video from China shows an enormous sinkhole burst open in the middle of a street, leading to an unsuspecting man on a scooter plunging into the huge hole.
Captured via CCTV, the footage first shows a giant portion of a road suddenly collapse and, in what looks like a scene from a cartoon, a scooter comes barreling towards it mere seconds later.
In a troubling testament to our modern times, the man riding the bike apparently did not see the gigantic chasm in front of him because he was too busy looking at his phone!
Considering that his distracted state could have resulted in an injured pedestrian, it’s rather ironic that the rider, himself, wound up being the one worse for wear.
Fortunately, he emerged from the incident unscathed and even managed to pull himself out of the hole without any help.
While the unexpected tumble may have destroyed his cell phone, that might actually be for the best.
On the far distant planet of Porno, Emperor Wang the Perverted has his sex ray pointed at Earth and every time he shoots the damned thing everyone goes plum sex-mad crazy. People are fucking in the street. Orgies are piling up everywhere. No one is safe. And the cry goes up, “Is there a hero out there who can save us?”
Too right there is. Name’s Flesh Gordon—who is somehow unaffected by Wang’s porny ray.
That’s just the opener for Michael Benveniste and Howard Ziehm’s schlocky sexploitation flick Flesh Gordon from 1974. If you are cognizant with the original 1930’s Universal serials or have seen the big screen version of Flash Gordon, then you’ll know just exactly how the story goes in this “outrageous parody of yesterday’s superheroes.”
Flesh (Jason Williams) teams up with a young woman called Dale Ardor (Suzanne Fields) and a scientist Dr. Flexi Jerkoff (Joseph Hudgins), who just happens to have a rocket ship ready to blast off to beat the evil Wang (William Dennis Hunt). This unlikely trio zoom off into space, land on Porno, and combat Wang and his band of “raping robots.” Along the way, they encounter Prince Precious (Mycle Brandy) the rightful king of Porno and his band of merry men, Queen Amora (Nora Wieternik), and the Great God Porno—a Ray Harryhausen-type monster voiced by none other than Craig T. Nelson. Thrills, comedy, and sex ensue.
The storyline for Flesh Gordon was so close to the original that Universal Studios at one point actively considered suing the filmmakers for blatant copyright infringement. Benveniste and Ziehm avoided this calamity by simply stating that their film was intended as an “homage” to the original source material. They also had all the advertising material labeled with the caveat that their movie was “Not to be confused with the original Flash Gordon.”
During 2013, 2014 and 2015, American photographer Arthur Drooker went to a dozen conventions across the country, photographing some of the quirkiest gatherings such as mermaids, clowns, Santas, fetishists and Lincoln look-alikes. Yet, he has barely begun. According to one estimate, America holds a staggering 1.2 million conventions, conferences, and trade shows every year. That’s nearly 3,000 gatherings every day! These unusual gatherings allow like-minded people to congregate, bond, and express themselves.
“Regardless of what they’re about, where they’re held or who attends them, all conventions satisfy a basic human urge: a longing for belonging,” says Arthur Drooker. “At conventions, people who share similar interests, even obsessions, come together to bond and to be themselves without fear, apology or explanation. The outside world doesn’t matter. In fact, for the weekend duration of most conventions, the outside world doesn’t even exist.”
Association of Lincoln Presenters, Natchez, Mississippi, 2014.
Santa Drill Team, Santa Celebration, Tampa, Florida, 2013.
Brony Parade, BronyCon, Baltimore, 2013.
At Ease, Military History Fest, St. Charles, Illinois, 2014.
Mermaid Matrimony, Merfest, Cary, North Carolina, 2015.
Zoo, Anthrocon, Pittsburgh, 2014.
Anthrocon (abbreviated AC) is the world’s largest furry convention, taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania each June or July. Its focus is on furries: fictional anthropomorphic animal characters in art and literature. The convention was first held in 1997 in New York State, and draws over 5,000 attendees annually. Anthrocon 2016 drew 7,310 attendees, with 2,100 fursuiters participating in the fursuit parade.
Fetish Con, at Tampa Hilton, Florida
World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships, Springfield, Illinois
Las Vegas convention stats:
How many conventions are held per year?
21,306 were held last year.
That is 58 conventions a day being held in Las Vegas, however, since conventions usually last 2-3 days, there would be well over a 100 conventions on the go on any given day.
How many delegates attended?
2015 saw 5,891,151 attendees.
The 37th ‘Vent Haven Convention bills itself as ‘the oldest and largest annual gathering of ventriloquists’ This one in Cincinnati.
And last, but not least, the Celebrity Impersonator Convention.
You have got to love the outrageous clothing and hair styles from the 1970’s. Jump suits and bell bottoms.
Dansband (“dance band”) is a Swedish term for a band that plays dansbandsmusik (“dance band music”). Dansbandsmusik is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired by swing, schlager, country, jazz, and rock. The main influence for rock-oriented bands is the rock music of the 1950s and 1960s.
The terms dansband and dansbandsmusik were coined around 1970, when Swedish popular music developed a signature style. The genre developed primarily in Sweden, but has spread to neighboring countries Denmark, Norway and the Swedish speaking regions of Finland. When the music came to Norway it was first called “Svensktoppar” (from the Swedish radio music chart Svensktoppen, which was a major arena for dansband music before its rules changed in January 2003).
Joseph “Joey” Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. He is currently ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a Vallejo, California, native and resides in San Jose, California. Chestnut’s height is 6-feet-one-inch (1.9 m); his weight is 230 pounds (104 kg).
On July 4, 2007, Chestnut won the 92nd Annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating six-time defending champion Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi by consuming 66 hot dogs and buns (HDB) in 12 minutes, which set a new world record. The following year, he successfully defended his title by winning a 5 hot dog eat-off after tying Kobayashi in consuming 59 HDB in 10 minutes. On July 4, 2009, Chestnut beat Kobayashi again, by consuming a new world record of 68 HDB and winning his third consecutive title. On July 4, 2010, Chestnut took home his 4th consecutive Mustard Belt eating 54 HDB. The 2010 contest was a runaway victory, as Kobayashi did not compete due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating. On July 4, 2011, he won his fifth-consecutive championship with 62 HDB. 2012 marked his sixth consecutive win, when Chestnut tied his own world record from 2009 by devouring 68 HDB. In 2013, Chestnut captured his seventh straight title, eating a total of 69 HDB, breaking his previous world record. In 2014, Chestnut captured his eighth straight title eating a total of 61 HDB.
Chestnut proposed to his longtime girlfriend Neslie Ricasa just before defending his title in the 2014 Nathan’s competition. The couple split up in early 2015, prior to their scheduled wedding date.
Chestnut lost the 2015 Hot Dog eating contest to Matt Stonie. On July 4, 2016, Chestnut regained the championship belt from Stonie by eating 70 hot dogs; 3.5 hot dogs short of his record-setting qualifying round. A year later on July 4, 2017, he raised the bar again by raising his record to 72 hot dogs.
Chestnut, a San Jose State University student, entered the competitive eating scene in 2005 with a break-out performance in the deep-fried asparagus eating championship, in which he beat high-ranked eater Rich LeFevre by eating 6.3 pounds of asparagus in 11.5 minutes. That same year, during Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, he downed 32 dogs, placing third behind Takeru Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas.
World Records Held
Deep Fried Asparagus Eating Championship in Stockton, California, May 2014: 12.8 lbs. deep fried asparagus in 10 minutes.
Pork ribs: 13.76 pounds pork rib meat in 12 minutes at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Casino Resort during the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off in Sparks, Nevada on August 28, 2013.
Steak: 4.5 pounds of steak, plus sides, in 8 minutes, 52 seconds at Big Texan Steak Ranch on March 24, 2008. Chestnut’s record was broken on Monday May 26, 2014 by competitive eater Molly Schuyler, who finished in 4 minutes, 58 seconds; by the next year she bested her own record, currently at 4 minutes, 18 seconds.
(Hot Dogs) Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs and buns (HDB): 72 HDB in 10 minutes during the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier in Coney Island, New York on July 4, 2013. This record is backed by MLE and shared with Takeru Kobayashi. This beat by 1 the record he set in the Nathan’s event in 2009, and tied in 2012.
Matzoh Balls: 78 matzoh balls in 8 minutes at Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen Restaurant in Houston, Texas on March 2, 2008
Bratwurst: 70 bratwursts in 10 minutes at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, OH on September 22, 2013.
Hard Boiled Eggs: 141 hard-boiled eggs in 8 minutes at the Radcliff Fall Festival in Radcliff, KY on October 5, 2013.
Pork Roll: 32 quarter-pound pork roll sandwiches in 10 minutes at the Trenton Thunder World Famous Case’s Pork Roll Eating Championship in Trenton, NJ on September 26, 2015.
Mutton Sandwich: 55 of 4oz mutton sandwiches in 10 minutes at 2017 International Bar-B-Q Festival in Owensboro, Kentucky
Every one knows about the hot dogs, with Chestnut a perennial champ of the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 in Coney Island.
But tacos are no problem, either, as he showed again this Saturday on day 2 of the Taco Truck Throwdown at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.
Chestnut gave those on hand a show when he stuffed down 92 carne asada tacos in 8 minutes to win the World Taco Eating Championship at Throwdown 7.
“The heat was really hard so I was sweating a little bit more than I should,” said Chestnut, who pocketed $4,000 for the win and said he’ll return next summer to defend his title. “I had little deep coughs where it came out a little bit. I wasn’t burping or anything; the food wasn’t settling fast enough, but it worked out.”
And if you think that means Chestnut didn’t get to enjoy what was put in front of him?
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