It's Oktoberfest. A frosty papal pilsner, perhaps?
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When Pope Benedict XVI visited Germany last week, the beer meisters were ready. The German newspaper Der Spiegel reports:
"According to Helmut Kurschat, whose brewery is the only one in Berlin's traditionally alternative Kreuzberg district, the special tipple is meant to be a sign of neighborliness. "The Apostolic Nunciature is just 60 meters from our brewery," he told daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "It made sense to brew a special pope beer." But a standard brewing process wouldn't do for the Holy Father. Brewers "ensouled" their creation by playing Gregorian chants with a ghetto blaster on the night of a new moon, 54-year-old Kurschat said. The result is a "pleasant, hoppy pilsner with a natural finish."
It's not the first time the Pope has had a been brewed in his honor. Microbrewers in the U.K. made an ale called Benedict's Brew to commemorate the pontiff's visit to England in 2010. And our web editor Cathleen picked up a bottle of Papst Bier (pictured above) shortly after the German pope was elected to fill St. Peter's throne back in 2006. (That bottle is enshrined in the SoJoWest offices, where it remains unopened.)
Denominational Interpretation: A Visual Aid
We kind of love THIS.
When bad signage happens to good Christians
So THIS happened...
Radiohead + Colbert=Total Awesomeness
The band Radiohead stopped by the Colbert Report on Monday (9/26) for a special hour-long episode. The enigmatic Brit-rockers discussed corporate greed, the Grammys, and Dr. Pepper. They also played a few tunes -- "The King of Limbs," "Kid A," and a special number with Mr. Colbert himself.
Five-year-old boy gets "devil horns" to fix birthmark
Well, sort of. The Huffington Post reports, "When George Ashman was born in 2006 with a large unsightly red scar on his forehead, his mother feared he'd become a target for bullies...After the family sought help from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, doctors implanted devil-like horns to stretch out the skin on his forehead so the blemish could then be removed. ... Small inflatable sacks were inserted under his hairline at either side of his forehead," which filled up with natural bodily fluid. Over four months, the pair of horns stretched the skin, allowing for his birthmark to be removed." Read more HERE.
Netflix apologizes for Apocaflypse
Netflix expects to lose as many as 600,000 customers this month after it introduced new subscription rates earlier in the month. Here's one response to the public, from the fertile imagination of S. Craig Refroe over at McSweeny's.
"First off, I want to thank you for being a loyal and valued Netflix customer. You may be wondering about a few of our recent missteps. To be frank, we screwed up. And we owe you, possibly all of humanity, an apology. It was wrong the way we handled the price increase. Yes, that hardly seems to matter now, but perhaps had we shown some humility at the time, the next series of horrible events might not have occurred." Read more HERE.
World Zombie Map
A new map highlights areas by the frequency of Google searches for the word "zombies." According to the data, "The results either provide a rough proxy for the amount of English-language content indexed over our planet, or offer an early warning into the geographies of the impending zombie apocalypse."
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Thousands join Utah Undie Run where the politics were personal
The event last weekend (9/24) was described as a protest "against Utah's being so uptight." Participants in the running of the skivvies, if you will, were given the following instructions on the event's official web page:
"We want each group of friends to come with there own specific demands written all over your body/undies/signs. Be creative. Get your friends to come with matching undies and help protest for your particular issues. Help us get the message out that Utah needs to lighten up."
"Who" is my religion
"Watching Dr. Who is like having a relationship with God," Cracked.com columnst Gladstone explains. "But unlike real life where loved ones fall to cancers that consume their bodies or terrible fates that shatter their minds, we are not alone. Doctor Who provides a savior. The Doctor risks his 900 year-old-plus life to save our miniscule existences."
Case of the stolen guitar, closed
A cemetery grounds-worker in Green Bay was caught stealing a custom made Fender Telecaster from a man's coffin. Upon his arrest, the worker said, "This isn't something I normally do. I just have a respect for fine musical instruments." If convicted, he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison along and a $25,000 fine.
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