15 supposedly weird things Scottish people do that no-one else understands

It may be bloody baltic up North but we’re a warm bunch of people with some pretty solid traditions. But some of the stuff that we class as normal and everyday in Scotland would be frowned upon anywhere else.

I’m not talking the big things like daring to want our country to have some kind of say in our futures by discussing independence. Naw, I’m on aboot stuff like shoving entire meals in pies, using an orange beverage as a vodka mixer, hoyin’ vinegary brown sauce on oor chips and calling our mates the c-word in every other sentence.

Here’s just 15 queer – but brilliant – Scottish habits that we find completely normal but anyone else would probably question.read more

God's weird county: a pelican skeleton, a 6ft 8ins barman and a 37-mile 'wheelie'-Odd news from across Yorkshire

n God’s own county you can be sure of weird and wonderful news.

In Leyburn, North Yorkshire, a sale of taxidermy and natural history specimens on October 12 includes oddities such as a pelican skeleton which was used as a prop in the film Nanny McPhee.

Among the 250 lots are a hippo, wallaby, duck-billed platypus and a three-legged mallard duck.

Other quirky lots to look out for include the skin of an African rock python, the skull of a giraffe, and a pair of French lop rabbits said to be ‘boxing one another.’read more

Why goosebumps are redundant and other great body mysteries

GO AHEAD, tickle yourself. We’ll wait here. You couldn’t even elicit a smirk, right?

The reason for this conundrum is that the command to tickle yourself is going through the same brain that usually responds to the sensation with a wriggly giggle, and the one cancels out the other.

Or as Sara-Jayne Blakemore, a researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, explained it to Scientific American in 2007:

“The cerebellum can predict sensations when your own movement causes them but not when someone else does. When you try to tickle yourself, the cerebellum predicts the sensation and this prediction is used to cancel the response of other brain areas to the tickle.”

However, schizophrenics are able to tickle themselves. Researchers say it could be because they can’t link the tickle to their initial motive.read more

Odd couples: 16 weird and wonderful twinned towns

On the surface of it, twinned towns feel like an appropriate way for two like-minded settlements to promote unity and shared experience across the globe.

But dig a little deeper and the practically of brethren cities is a weird and wonderful world of arbitrary ties and local government banter.

With thanks to VoucherBox, who felt the need to compile some information on the most peculiar pairings, here are some of the best, worst, and more jarring twinned towns in the world. Come up with your own jokes where necessary.

1. Dull, Boring and Bland

The three unfortunately named towns, Dull in Scotland, Boring in the US state of Oregon, and Bland in Australia, have joined forces to make fun of each other.read more

World Beard Day: 15 brilliantly weird beard trends you need to try

Happy World Beard Day!

It’s probably a little too late to actually grow a beard to celebrate the occasion. Sorry.

But there are other ways to celebrate a day dedicated to the joy of beards.

Create a fake beard out of paper, for example. Draw one on your face with a felt tip pen. Don’t shave this morning, and pretend your stubble qualifies as a beard.

And of course, if you have a beard already, decorate it. That’s important.

Thankfully there have been plenty of brilliantly bizarre beard trends over the last few years to inspire your beard-y creativity.read more