Last year, Kara Kovalchik wrote about Infomercial Superstars (and Where They Came From). Here’s her section on Billy Mays, who will be missed:

Billy Mays Cleans Up His Act

If Billy Mays’ onscreen sales technique reminds you of the “Step right up!”-style banter of a carnival barker, you’re not far off the mark. Shortly after graduating from high school, Mays took a job selling a household device called the Washmatik on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk. He then spent 12 years traveling the U.S. and selling everything from vegetable choppers to cleaning products at state fairs and home shows. Along the way he carefully studied the veteran pitchmen in neighboring booths and copied their shtick. In a nice slice of serendipity, Mays happened to be working across the aisle at a show from Max Appel, the founder of Orange Glo. Appel’s microphone broke just prior to a presentation, and Mays graciously gave him one of his spares. The two struck up a friendship, which led to Mays becoming the national spokesperson for Orange Glo. That gig led to spots for OxiClean and Kaboom! and a recognition factor that automatically guarantees millions of dollars in sales for any product.

You can read the full article here.

The Paragolfer is a motorized wheelchair that assists a paraplegic to stand up and play golf. It was developed with the input of paralyzed golfers. The product information page alludes to other sports and hobbies that require an upright position, but it doesn’t give any examples.

The Paragolfer is made by Parabasetec. The unit costs around $26,000, which may be more suited to purchase by a country club than by individuals. However, there must be other activities to use this vehicle for besides golf. That is not to downplay the value of playing golf for someone who has been unable to compete in any sports, or enjoy outdoor activities, as the story of Paragolfer user Graham Hunt illustrates.

“I spent the year having a very big downer.

“I had bought myself a Nintendo Wii console and the game that came with it was Tiger Woods 2008 so I started playing gold on the Wii.

“I thought, ‘if I an swing a Wii around, why can’t I swing a golf club too?”

See the Paragolfer in action in this video. You can skip the first minute.

A commenter elsewhere mentioned what a boon it would be for someone to be able to stand, shake hands, and look someone in the eye. Those are the kinds of actions you don’t think about until you’ve lost those abilities.

Tim likes pro baseball, but there are six teams that he likes quite a bit more than all the others. The following list depicts five of those teams. Can you determine who the sixth team is, as well as the reason why Tim prefers these six teams over the competition? Good luck!

Tim likes the Angels, Nationals, Orioles, Rangers, and Yankees.
He also likes one other team, for the same reason he likes these five.

Which team is it, and why?

If you need help, here’s a list of all the MLB teams; the solution
can be found on that page as well, if you look closely enough.

I just got back from a week in Ojai, CA, a destination worthy of its own post. But we’re going to focus on a stop my wife and I (and our nearly-two-year-old son) made at Stearns Wharf, in Santa Barbara, CA. If you haven’t been, this is the oldest working pier in California.

Built in 1872 by a lumber tycoon named John P. Stearns, the pier held the distinction of being the longest deep-water pier between L.A. and San Fran during the late 1800s, a pretty important fact given the dearth of railroads.

It served cargo ships, mostly, and then, during prohibition, rumrunners and gamblers on floating casinos. Ultimately, it was turned into a naval installation during WWII. (Santa Barbara was actually hit by enemy fire during the war!).

Also during the war, the Harbor Restaurant opened, and it’s still in business today. We thought about having a nosh there, but my son was overwhelmed by the pelicans and fishermen.

Today, it’s all mostly a tourist trap, and you can drive your car on the pier and buy candy, overpriced chachkies, and watch the pelican kickboxing matches. Oh, what? You don’t believe me?

We caught a bit of the illegal activity on our little HD flip camera.

Author and illustrator Maira Kalman took a trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Her fascination with the man makes us want to go, too!
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The dancing inmates of Cebu prison in the Philippines pay tribute to Michael Jackson. Don’t miss the Thriller dance without the Thriller music.
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You know you’ve arrived as a blogger when a fan wants to use your site to propose marriage. Pharyngula is already popular, but for Scienceblogger PZ Myers, this is a first.
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A brief history of the bikini. “It is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing.”
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Time-lapse Tattoos. Four videos that don’t begin to explain what it’s like to get a tattoo, but are pretty neat to watch anyway.
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Oceansize is a beautiful and horrifying student film. Exactly the kind of thing 3D animation was meant for.
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From lynching to dunces: 10 Awful Words and the people they’re named for. In some cases, being immortalized is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Back at the end of May, I promised to cover 13 artists from 13 different countries in the 13 “Feel Art Again” posts for the month of June. Due to personal issues, I’ve gotten a little behind schedule, but I’ll be working this week to fulfill my promise.

At the request of reader Wanda, today’s post features the Canadian First Nations artist Daphne Odjig. The “grandmother of Canadian native art” will celebrate her 100th birthday on September 11, 2009.

1. “Born with a paintbrush in her hand,” Daphne Odjig’s creative streak was nurtured by her artistic family, especially her grandfather. Odjig referred to her grandfather, a tombstone carver and painter, as her “first mentor.” Her mother embroidered, and her father drew; as Odjig said, “Art was always a part of our lives.”

2. Some of Odjig’s work explores erotic themes, which was unusual for First Nations art. In 1974, she illustrated Herbert T. Schwartz’s collection of traditional First Nations erotica, Tales from the Smokehouse. In 1977, when her paintings were on display in a Winnipeg gallery, “the vice squad objected to the size of the genitals in some of the illustrations.”

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Our very own Jason English is wondering why his Poland Spring has a “drink by” date on it when common sense dictates that water doesn’t go bad. To him I say, “It’s your own damn fault.”

Well, not personally his fault, but the fault of his home state of New Jersey. A 1987 NJ state law required all food products sold there to display an expiration date of two years or less from the date of manufacture. Labeling, separating and shipping batches of expiration-dated water to the Garden State seemed a little inefficient to bottled water producers, so most of them simply started giving every bottle a two-year expiration date, no matter where it was going.

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If this traffic cone monster was paired with that “Zombies ahead” sign, it might be one of the greatest roadside attractions I could imagine.
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There are some animals who are really cute, even if it denies them any dignity. Then there are others who, even as babies, only a mother could love.
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Atlanta has been suffering through a heat wave for the past week, so swimming pools whose waters are still under 90 degrees are a bonus. Here are 12 Swimming Pools Worthy of Your Admiration from all around the world to help you virtually cool off (except that Chernobyl one).
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By now most of you have seen the lookbook of sets and characters for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, but this link includes a few extra shots I didn’t see in the initial postings.
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A “That’s what she said” comment lands student in detention. (And when did parents start getting notified of their kid’s behavior via email??)
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You all know that I am fascinated by sand sculptures, so here are some more! 10 amazing faces in the sand.
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In case you weren’t obsessively refreshing mentalfloss.com all week, here’s what you missed:

Top 5 Stories Originally Posted This Week

1. 5 Famous Numbers and the Logic Behind Them, by Casey Johnston

2. 6 Songs Used to Torture & Intimidate, by Danny Gallagher

3. Body Anomaly Tattoos, by Miss Cellania

4. Surprising Facts About 15 Bestselling Authors, by Ethan Trex

5. 9 Unique Ambient Advertisements, by Mario Marsicano

Top 5 Most Commented Stories

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Go ahead and make it official, and join more than 260 hunters who already have. WHY? Because this coming Tuesday, we’ve got a brand new 5-day trivia hunt starting, and we’re going to be dropping cryptic hints every now and again on Facebook, so you’re going to want to Fan us and better your chances of scoring the big $100 prize.

Plus, the page will allow you to friend other contestants, form alliances, network and just hang out with other trivia nuts. So go check it out over here.

New to our five-day trivia hunt? You can learn more on our rules and regulations page here.

And you can check out a sample of our last hunt by walking through these links: Last month’s Day 1 can be found right here Day 2, this-a-way, Day 3 down yonder and Day 4 is over here and Day 5, right here.