How 10 American Towns Got Their Weird Names

Plan to hit the road next summer, but don't know where to go? We don't mean to be rude, but have you considered Hell? Hell, Michigan, that is. (And you thought you had to drive south.) For a different kind of vacation, check out this tour of off-road America, where unusual names are the main attraction: Photo: David Ball [Wikipedia] 1. Hell, Michigan If you've always wanted to see Hell freeze over, visit this place in winter, when the Highland Lake dam often gets icy enough to stop the water flow. In summer, when temperatures are moderate, the town has a "Satan's Holidays" festival and a road race called "Run to Hell." In October is the "Halloween in Hell" Celebration. The town got its name in 1841, when George Reeves, an early settler in this low, swampy place in southeast Michigan, was asked what the thought the town should be named. "I don't care," Reeves said. "You can name it 'Hell' if you want to." 2. Slapout, Alabama Oscar Peeples, the town grocer in the early 1900s, was forever waiting on customers who asked for things he didn't have. "I'm slap out of it," Peeples would say. This central Alabama community, north of Montgomery, is now little more than a crossroads, with a church, bank, barber shop, and the tumbledown remains of Peeples' old store. 3. Noodle, Texas In the late 1800s, Texans often used the word noodle to mean "nothing," which is exactly what they found when they arrived at this locale near Abilene. Now there are two churches, a store and an old gin. For nearly a century, the population has held steady at about 40 people. (Photo: Jack Williams via TexasEscapes.com) 4. Joe, Montana When quarterback Joe Montana signed on with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993, a Missouri radio station urged the folk of Ismay, in southeast Montana near the North Dakota border, to change the town's name to "Joe." The sports-minded citizenry, all 22 of them, voted in favor of the change, and a new industry was born. In fact, money raised from selling, "Joe, Montana" souvenirs enabled the town to build a new fire station. Photo: digitalhooligan [Flickr] 5. Lizard Lick, North Carolina Since 1972, the residents of this town, 16 miles east of Raleigh, have held lizard races every fall to herald the farming community's unusual name. It dates back to the days when the area was home to a federally operated liquor still, and lizards were brought in to cut down on the insects. Traveling salesman noticed the creatures and dubbed the community Lizard Lick. Downtown Chicken Alaska Photo by J. Higgs - via Wikipedia 6. Chicken, Alaska The village, in the Alaskan wild near the Canadian border, is named for a bird, but not the one you think. In the late 1800s, gold miners found a reliable meal in the abundance of ptarmigan, a grouse-like critter whose white feathers make it look, from a distance, like a chicken. When the townsfolk decided to incorporate in 1902, none of them knew how to spell ptarmigan. So they went with the look-alike Chicken to avoid the jokes of misspelled name would incur. Unfortunately, poultry jokes now abound. The town has a full-time population of about 30 people and mail delivery every Tuesday and Friday. There's a saloon, but no telephones or central plumbing. Incidentally, the ptarmigan is now the Alaska state bird. 7. Spot, Tennessee A dot in the road about an hour west of Nashville, Spot was named by a sawmill operator who was always writing folks about business. One day, pen in hand, the sawmill operator sat at his desk, worrying over a letter from postal authorities wanting to know what to call the town. A spot of ink dropped onto the sawmill operator's white stationery, and the town had its name. By town, we mean a couple of houses and a ramshackle store. 8. Peculiar, Missouri In the spring of 1868, Postmaster E.T. Thomson decided to name his town "Excelsior," but postal officials told him it was already taken. Thomson reapplied with new names, and received the same response time after time. Exasperated, he finally told postal officials to assign the town a unique name, one that was "sort of peculiar." Peculiar, near the Kansas border just south of Kansas City, is home to about 1,800 people. 9. Zap, North Dakota A Northern Pacific Railroad official, in charge of naming settlements on the line, named Zap after Zapp, Scotland, because both places had coal mines. The city, about 15 miles south of Lake Sakakawea, encompasses one square mile and is home to about 300. 10. Embarrass, Minnesota If faces are red here, it's only because the town - 205 miles north of St. Paul - is typically the coldest spot in the continental United States. The midwinter temperature often drops to -60 °F, and snow has been known to fall in June. The name comes from early settlers, who used the French word for obstacle - embarras - to describe the hardships they faced in the frigid territory. Today, the population is largely Finnish. They celebrate their thriving community with a Finnish-American Festival every summer. And Don't Forget ... Think the preceding towns have nutty names? Here are some more: - Idiotville, Oregon - Knockemstiff, Ohio - Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky - Satan's Kingdom, Vermont - Toad Suck, Arkansas

The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out! Original here

Mobile phone radiation fries sperm - study

By Tamara McLean

MEN who talk for hours on their mobile phones could be jeopardising their chance of fathering a child, Australian research suggests.

An experiment on semen revealed evidence of DNA damage after 16 hours of exposure to radiation similar to the output of a mobile phone.

The preliminary study, presented at a fertility conference in Brisbane today, is the first of its kind, and supports US research showing heavy mobile phone users have up to 40 per cent lower sperm counts than lighter users.

Researchers at the University of Newcastle built a device to irradiate sperm at the same radio frequency as mobile telephone calls.

Professor John Aitken, director of the university's Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development, said they were able to accurately identify high levels of DNA fragmentation in the sperm.

"After 16 hours exposure, there was clear evidence of DNA damage," Prof Aitken said.

"This is a very early finding from our analysis, but it does raise concerns."

DNA damage in spermatozoa has been associated with decreased fertility, increased risk of miscarriage and various kinds of disease in offspring, including childhood cancer, and a number of neurological disorders such as autism, bipolar disorder and spontaneous schizophrenia.

In the study, damage was caused by oxidative stress - when the generation of free radicals exceeds the body's own anti-oxidant defence mechanisms.

Prof Aitken said it was well known that sperm DNA fragmentation was predominantly triggered by oxidative stress which may arise from infection, smoking or older age, but there had been little research about the link with mobile phones.

Unsaturated fatty acids in foods such as margarine were also known to trigger free radicals and potential oxidative stress, he said.

"We also suspect components of acne treatment may give rise to potential free radical effects, but we have yet to find a dermatologist willing to participate in such a study," he said.

The team said if oxidative stress caused DNA damage to sperm, anti-oxidant treatments might provide a cure.

A recent German study suggested that seat warmers fitted in many luxury model cars may also be damaging sperm by raising scrotum temperature above optimal semen production conditions.

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Doctors get death diagnosis tips

Doctors says that cases of an incorrect diagnosis are rare

Doctors are being given tips to help them diagnose when someone is dead.

Although a patient coming back from the dead is rare, there is enough ambiguity in diagnosing death that doctors need guidance, experts have decided.

Rapid advances in life support, where machines take over the breathing of the moribund, have complicated the diagnosis, for example.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges' UK guidelines cover situations like hypothermia and drug-induced coma.

Back from the dead

There have been instances when people exposed to extreme cold have been presumed dead but have later shown signs of life again when their core body temperature has risen again.

Sedative drugs can also make a person appear to be dead when they are not.

This new guidance for the first time clearly spells out when it is appropriate to diagnose death Sir Peter Simpson, the report author

The report's author, anaesthetist Sir Peter Simpson, said diagnosing death could be difficult.

"There are issues when people die in unusual circumstances with unusual sedative drugs on board or other extraneous things like low body temperature when it is inappropriate to confirm death.

"This new guidance for the first time clearly spells out when it is appropriate to diagnose death.

"Diagnosing death in whatever circumstances is a sensitive issue, which comes at a very distressing time for everyone.

"We hope that the detailed way in which the working party has addressed the issues will give help and confidence to all concerned."

The guidelines say the definition of death should be regarded as the irreversible loss of the capacity for consciousness, combined with irreversible loss of the capacity to breathe.

They replace existing guidance on brain death and include new advice on cardiac death.

The authors also decided it was important to separate completely the diagnosis and confirmation of death from anything to do with the issues surrounding organ donation and transplantation.

This was to avoid any concern that the diagnosis is influenced by the desperate need for life-saving donor organs which are in short supply.

Professor Dame Carol Black, chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said: "I am confident that by addressing the ambiguities of the old Code, together with issues that have arisen as a result of new areas of clinical practice and the law, this new guidance will help both medical and nursing staff and equally our patients feel confident in the diagnosis and confirmation of death and its consequences."

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