Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Great Recession has NASA grounded. It's so bad that they are letting private companies in on the space exploration game. But maybe the National Aeronautics and Space Administration can be helped with a couple of old school tricks: a car wash and a bake sale.

On June 9, several universities -- including the University of Central Florida in Orlando -- and organizations from across the country will coordinate a car wash and bake sale to raise money for and bring awareness to deep budget cuts to NASA that are scheduled to take place October 1, which is the beginning of the next fiscal year.
More >>

All photos by Laine Doss

This lovely lady wants you to buy her dinner.

Exxxotica Expo 2012 hits the Miami Beach Convention Center this weekend.

If you're going, expect to find gorgeous men and women wearing everything from full bondage leather to nothing but a little duck tape (we don't want to be around when she pulls the tape off).

In addition to seminars discussing everything from making amateur videos to how surgically enhancing yourself could lead to better sex, live entertainment, and appearances by your favorite adult film stars (who generally charge $10 for a photo of them on your lap), Exxxotica is also something like the largest adult toy store in the world.

Everything from whips and leather to feathers and glitter were available for purchase, as well as things you didn't think you'd need (but might come in handy) like performance enhancing supplements and hangover remedies.

We perused the various booths in search of the most incredible edibles designed to help turn bedtime into playtime. Here's what we found.
More >>

Let the Tax Day binge begin.

Today is the deadline to pay the piper. Meet the deadline or dump a considerable portion of your blood, sweat and toil to the IRS.

That's why restaurants across Miami are stepping up on your bedraggled behalf during on this national day of mourning to provide some cheap chow. Or maybe you're getting a refund. In which case you should stop reading now. But if you want a little something for nothing, read on.
More >>

The Kirin Brewing Company in Japan has developed a new beer tap that turns beer into a frozen sorbet.

No, this isn't a beer-flavored ice cream, it's a machine that chills and freezes the head to 23 degrees Fahrenheit using the frozen lid to keep the underlying beer cold for up to 30 minutes, And it can be eaten like a sorbet, according to Beer Street Journal.
More >>

​OK urban warriors, Burger King wants to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with you. How? By again giving away more of their thicker-cut french fries, but this time with a side of green ketchup.

Don't ponder over how awesome green ketchup makes you feel on the inside. On St. Patrick's Day weekend, the urban forager briefly transforms into a midget Irishman sporting a red beard and a green top hat, and like any good Leprechaun worth his cabbage, he absolutely must have that pot of gold.
More >>

Wikimedia CC

​It may be the best athlete food endorsement since "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Slim Jim, or it could be the worst since Mike Tyson and Pepsi, but Dunkin' Brands Inc. announced Monday that LeBron James will promote pork donuts, among other products, in China and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, according to Reuters.

The Massachusetts-based company is catering to local tastes in the region where it plans to open another 100 locations. Since the store has entered the ever-expanding China market, the donut-maker customized some products for local tastes such as a dried-pork donut, a seaweed donut, a beef-curry donut, a green tea donut and a Mochi ring donut made from a rice indigenous to the region.
More >>

Laine Doss

​Last season on Real Housewives of New Jersey, Caroline Manzo's sons, Albie and Christopher were seen plugging some sort of black water. The boys are known for hare-brained ideas (anyone want to finance a combination strip club/car wash in Jersey?), plus it's reality television, so I just thought it was another hour of mindless television that I would never get back from my short life.

To my surprise, while shopping at the Coconut Grove Milam's, I found it! A black bottle that said blk. At $1.69, it was cheap enough for me to pick it up and try it. Even better -- I brought it into Short Order's weekly blogger meeting.

You might recall that for a while, we had a weekly Short Order Taste Test segment, where a blogger would bring in a food item and the other bloggers would taste and rate the item.

Imagine the surprise when several bloggers didn't want to try it. OK, I will admit that when I opened the bottle and poured, I realized that the bottle wasn't black -- the water was. Really. The bottle was clear. This water looked like the stuff that you're forced to drink when you're stranded out in the woods. Bear Grylls drinks this in survival training. Real people shouldn't have to pay for it.
More >>

funtasticus.com

​It's the third Monday of the month and you know what that means: "S#!@... another Monday". Oh yeah, and it's Presidents Day. And believe it or not, Presidents can be funny.

Now, let's be honest. We love it when someone we know makes a fool of himself - even better when it involves food. Presidents, like celebrities, are almost forced to maintain a certain composure... as if everything were picture perfect at all times. But what happens when all they can be is human? Do they make a mockery of those who run our country?
More >>

​Gear up urban warriors, the next freebie challenge is on with free orders of onion rings from Miami-based Burger King this weekend, February 4 and 5.

Unlike BK's recent French fry giveaway, the best part of this new promotion--other than the free grub--is that it lasts the entire weekend, so theoretically you can survive on nothing but free Burger King onion rings for two whole days (who says you can't?).
More >>

Our soul sister blog, Riptide, recently described a guy who allegedly murdered a man and proceeded to consume his brain and eyeball. Hannibal Lecter would have at least added fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti.

As a response, here's a list of eight things that would probably be better than tasting man brain.

cracked.com

8. Ant eggs - because cottage cheese ain't weird enough
They're eaten in Mexico, typically in a taco, with guacamole and salsa, and have the consistency of cottage cheese. ¡Delicioso!
More >>