Pepsi Releases Cucumber Flavored Soda

That's right, Pepsi has released a new drink to help combat the summer heat called Pepsi Ice Cucumber. Unfortunately it's only available in Japan. Which is a shame, as I would love to try this new flavor for myself. So if any of my Japanese readers would like to send me a bottle, let me know and I'll pay for the soda and the price of shipping it, and I promise a complete review here on the blog once it's drunk. Anyway, here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Cucumber-flavored soda sold in Japan


TOKYO - Japanese are staying cool as a cucumber this summer with "Pepsi Ice Cucumber" — a new soda based on the crisp green gourd.

The soft drink, which hit stores here on Tuesday, doesn't actually have any cucumber in it — but has been artificially flavored to resemble "the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber," said Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan's Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd.

"We wanted a flavor that makes people think of keeping cool in the summer heat," Takemoto said. "We thought the cucumber was just perfect."

Link to the full story. Photo copyright AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa.

Archaeologists Find Viking "Mickey Mouse"

Archaeologists digging in Sweden have discovered a brooch from 900AD that bears a amazing resemblance to Walt Disney's famous creation, Mickey Mouse. However, despite the uncanny resemblance, archaeologist feel that the brooch is actually supposed to represent a lion, not a mouse. I don't know about you, but it sure doesn't look like any lion I've ever seen. Here's the story from The Local:

Archaeologists discover Iron Age Mickey Mouse

Swedish archaeologists have uncovered signs of a Viking precursor to Mickey Mouse. Among the objects found during excavations at Uppåkra in southern Sweden is an iron age figure bearing a strong resemblance to the classic cartoon character.

But archaeologist Jerry Rosengren from Lund University is confident that the bronze brooch - used as a clasp to fasten women's clothing - was in fact intended to represent a Lion King rather than a mere mouse.

"The find is from around 900 AD. It was probably a lion's head that originally came from France. It was however more than likely designed by somebody who had never actually seen a lion.

Link to the full story. Picture from The Local.

LOLCat...This is how I feel right now

Kool-Aid with a Kick? Dutch Students Create Powdered Alcohol

A group of Dutch students at Helicon Vocational Institute have created a powdered alcoholic drink called Booz2Go as part of their final year project. All I can think of is this is definitely better than the Kool-Aid I've been buying! Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Just add water - students invent alcohol powder

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.

The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2).

Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.

"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.

Link to the full story.

Nessie Caught on Film?

A man from Yorkshire, England, has recently claimed to have caught Nessie, the famed Loch Ness Monster, on video. Hopefully, after careful analyzation, this won't turn out to be some big publicity stunt or bid for money. Only time will tell. If it turns out to actually be something, this story may have to be covered over at FreekBoi's Creature Features. The picture at left isn't from the new video, it's the "surgeon's photo", one of the most iconic images of Nessie, that later was revealed to be a hoax. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Man says he captured Loch Ness on film

EDINBURGH, Scotland - The Loch Ness monster is back — and there's video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland's most mysterious lake.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," said Shine, of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake.

Holmes said whatever it was moved at about 6 mph and kept a fairly straight course.

"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

Loch Ness is surrounded by myth. It's the largest inland body of water in Britain, and at about 750 feet to the bottom, it's even deeper than the North Sea.

"There are a number of possible explanations to the sightings in the loch. It could be some biological creature, it could just be the waves of the loch or it could some psychological phenomenon in as much as we see what we want to see," Shine said.

Link to the full story.