People who say the Caps Lock key is useless are usually English speakers who don't think other people exist.

On French keyboards, the line with the numbers actually has letters and symbols like &é"'(-è_çà)=, to get to the numbers you need to shift. When writing a sequence of over 3 numbers on my laptop I ALWAYS Caps Lock.

In Hebrew, in addition to the letters like ??????? we can also add various dots and lines to actually have vowels. Those symbols can be added only once Caps Lock is activated and then pressing shift again and reach for the numbers line: ??????????????

In Hohhot, China, the price is about $0.70 for a 5km ride

1. yes, you can use cell phones on the plane in Europe. No one does it because you can't really hear anything (ever notice the amount of background noise in a plane?).

2. The reclining seat rule which wakes you up has the same logic as the open all windows rule: in case of an accident, you are as aware as possible or your outside situation (if you want to fall back asleep or put your neatorama owl eyes back on that's your choice).

3. The only REALLY stupid, useless, uncomfortable rule isn't even mentioned in his article, and it's before you board the plane. This "new" (it's been 4 years now) rule that you can't bring liquids on board. Unless they're in 100ml containers. Or unless you buy them after security. You can have an empty 1 liter bottle, but you can't have a 200ml bottle which contains only 50ml of liquid. That is the single dumbest rule ever, and is being enforced ONLY because it helped beverage sales after passing security and on board. It has NO sense whatsoever. Smaller volumes of liquid can be reassembled later after security. Bigger bottles can be bought for "mixing of materials" or whatever they're scared of.
Perfect example: Security is at its highest where? In Israeli airports. Can't say that they're not the most paranoid when it comes to security (with good reasons). Yet they, of all people, couldn't care less if you go on board with 1.5 liters of coke, half a liter of orange juice, and a big bottle of shower gel which you forgot to put in your suitcase. The point is, if after their security check they let you on the plane, whatever you bring with you won't be a problem.

The kid being an unaccompanied minor has nothing to do with it. I've flown as a UM since I was 6 years old. Someone brought this kid to the airport, and this someone knows he was late, so no way that person would have left the airport before getting a text message from the kid saying "I'm sitting on the plane".
But even if that weren't the case, the airline would take care of the kid and put him on the next flight.

I've been a UM since before I could read, my best friend is a pilot's daughter, I know the standby rules. If the standby passenger had a seat number, and the luggage on board (if any), the passenger is no longer a standby.

What's more, the lady wasn't in the kid's seat, she was in another seat.

Note, the it's not that she was sitting next to him, and he needed her space (at least, I don't recall reading that anywhere). They just needed to remove one person to allow him to stay on board, and they probably figured that the best option was to boot the ex-standby. It has nothing to do with her weight or where she was sitting.

Someone pointed out that saying one's weight won't really help, I agree, but then have a statement that says "I can fit into a single seat" which needs to be checked when buying the ticket, otherwise the person will be charged extra, etc.

Where did the egg come out of?

Hey intelnm, not so intelligent actually...

"before the 100th anniversary of her birth"

Argh, now I'm sure I'll also get the inflatable turkey... Dammit. Last time I got the huge remote control (almost cool - if only it managed to control anything :) ) and some dinky little plastic crown (the type you might find at a 50-cent store).

Although the inflatable turkey can be seen as a fun thought for Thanksgiving, I hope the Neatorama mystery sale people remember that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Europe...

Just once, I wish I could get something really really cool!

Ah, Alex, you've been absent for a while... Always check if it hasn't been posted before, no? :) http://www.neatorama.com/2009/07/29/toilet-paper-tube-faces/

No pun intended means that whatever the person said previous to this saying was not meant to be funny even though it could be taken in a humorous way.
I didn't want to erase what I had just written just because it could be thought that I wrote it on purpose to make a pun. I don't mind idiom Nazis, but if you replace the m with a t, then I begin to get annoyed :) It's not complicated. I wrote something, turned to be funny(ish) without me meaning it, I left it.

rintah, why do you think I'm an idiot? I know what "no pun intended" means, and it wasn't intended. I started writing "PETA would have a cow", and the moment I typed the last 'w' I started giggling, and decided to leave it in anyway. That's the way I speak, and it happens to fit in with the subject at hand, but I wasn't looking to make a pun on purpose. Do you have a better way of not intending a pun?

As for the "As long as nobody's getting hurt", I think I see where aftershock is coming from. You could generally say "as long as nobody's getting hurt" about any subject. But this particular subject *is* about not hurting (animals), which makes it somewhat pun-worthy.

PETA would have a cow anyway(no pun intended). They argue not only that the animals suffer the physical pain, but also emotional pain, because animals have thoughts and feelings, and even if this thing would make them unable to feel the pain, the cows will still have to deal with the deeply philosophical existential questions they always ask themselves: "What is my purpose in life? Why do people always treat me like a slab of meat?"

MPM: It's obviously a joke. You can tell that "when leaving the hospital" the baby is clearly not a newborn, but much closer to being 1 year old.

On the one hand it sounds like a good idea, but then I imagine if I had to work a week like that. I would never have time to go to the gym during the 4 days of the week, I'd barely have time to make dinner with the commute and what not. But having things open longer hours would rock, especially in Belgium where everything closes at 6pm. Everything.

Belgian cartoons have BELGIAN influence :) Americans are really oer sensitive about everything, sheeesh. I grew up with these, and never batted an eyelash or thought they were inappropriate (nor did my parents for that matter!).
Beer or champagne drinking smurfs? Oh no, cover their eyes! A smurf playing cards with an Ace hidden somewhere? We've never seen that in ANY cartoon, have we? A smurf in a halloween costume? God forbid. The devil smurf is actually a bad conscience smurf, that comes together with the angel - good conscience smurf. A mermaid smurf, again, cover your eyes lest you see her breasts! Oh no, she's already covering them, it's okay :)
The caged smurf is ridiculously benign! How else would you display a daring rescue by the other smurfs? And the little smurfette bathing, there should be nothing wrong with that. She's supposed to be a little 2 year old. Americans are so prude :) There's nothing wrong with that unless you have a sick mind.

I've always thought that in the US people are a bit overprotective about alcohol and such. If you think you should shield children from seeing a smurf with a champagne bottle, then it's no wonder there are alcohol abuse problems in the States. By making it taboo, you're making it more interesting than it really is.

If this thing would be cheap enough to be automatically included in every doctor's checkup, that would be awesome. Having worked in an oncology department specifically about the subject of lung cancer, the problem is that it is usually detected too late. The reason it is detected too late is that by the time symtoms arise, the disease has evolved quite a lot. This little gadget could save lives.