AJ has come forward. Last year ericb told us about Hyperthymesia, a condition where the affected individual has a superior autobiographical memory. AJ is Jill Price, author of The Woman Who Can't Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science—A Memoir.
posted by netbros on May 18, 2009 - 26 comments

"When Harold Carr's nephews and nieces inherited a dusty old lock-up garage from their eccentric uncle their expectations were low. But when they opened the doors of the car collector's Tyneside [England] garage they discovered what may prove to be a life-changing inheritance."^* Inside they found a rare 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante. Having sat hidden, gathering dust for over 50 years, the classic car -- of which only 17 were built -- goes up for auction by Bonhams at the Retromobile auto show in Paris on February 7, 2009. [more inside]
posted by ericb on Jan 2, 2009 - 44 comments

In a time of top 10 lists, there are those who aim higher: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? maintains an annually updated list of the 1,000 greatest films ever made, as well as the 250 greatest of the 21st century. Kevin B. Lee wants to see them all. How many have you seen? (via)
posted by Horace Rumpole on Dec 29, 2008 - 55 comments

Are you neurotic?
posted by divabat on Jun 6, 2008 - 74 comments

Guide 25 Strangest Collections on the Web includes items such as a collection of navel fluff, 700 artistically decorated toilet seats, a scratchcard collection, 2,500 unique aol disks and cds, and much more. [more inside]
posted by msaleem on May 19, 2008 - 8 comments

Mole Man to pay £300,000 for burrowing under home. A retired engineer nicknamed “Mole Man”, because of his fondness for burrowing tunnels under his home (video), has been ordered to pay almost £300,000 to the local council (he lives in London) after his hobby nearly caused his house to collapse (article with a few photos). William Lyttle, 77, spent 40 years excavating a maze of tunnels beneath his 20-room Victorian property in Hackney, East London, before the council intervened. "I often used to joke that I expect him to come tunnelling up through the kitchen floor," said Marc Beishon, who lives a few yards from William Lyttle's house, in 2006, when the Mole Man was first ordered to stop. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu on Apr 18, 2008 - 31 comments

POSSESSED is a short documentary film that 'enters the complicated worlds of four hoarders; people whose lives are dominated by their relationship to possessions'.
posted by jack_mo on Mar 7, 2008 - 44 comments

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is often misunderstood (and is different from Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.) From wikipedia: "OCD sufferers are aware that such thoughts and behavior are not rational, but feel bound to comply with them to fend off feelings of panic or dread. Because sufferers are consciously aware of this irrationality but feel helpless to push it away, untreated OCD is often regarded as one of the most vexing and frustrating of the major anxiety disorders." [more inside]
posted by agregoli on Jan 23, 2008 - 65 comments

Four out of Five People Wash Their Hands. Don't be that Fifth Guy. While you're at it, cover your mouth when you cough and stay home when you're sick. Really, how many times do we have to tell you? Wash. Your. Hands. Seriously. [more inside]
posted by grabbingsand on Dec 20, 2007 - 155 comments

There are two-- two-- awesome flashlight museums on the web. One of them is on geocities; the other is not. One of them has a page of art deco purse lights and a page of interesting and unusual lights; the other has bullet flashlights and the Dukes of Hazzard signal flash. I love them both.
posted by dersins on Nov 28, 2007 - 19 comments

Man, this guy really likes pencils.
posted by dersins on Oct 29, 2007 - 26 comments

He added to Rock, Paper, Scissors and came up with RPS-15 (with 15 signs) and then RPS-25 (yep, 25 signs). Then he added on to those games and made something "so complex, I highly doubt anyone will actually even want to attempt to play it." Dear lord, it's RPS-101. (Previously)
posted by 23skidoo on Oct 27, 2006 - 25 comments

'The Helmet Project web site is an attempt by its creator, a completely amateur graphic artist and a long-time fan of football at all levels, to create and maintain an on-line "catalog" or "atlas" of uniform-sized, accurate, and up-to-date images representing the football helmets worn by college football teams and teams from a few professional leagues in the United States and Canada.'
posted by T.D. Strange on Jun 5, 2006 - 15 comments

Sarah Elizabeth Witt struggles to convey a word game [direct to quicktime] that caused her doctor to diagnose her as obsessive-compulsive.

"When I hear a word that starts with the letter U, I immediately gain access to the letter Y!"
posted by odinsdream on Nov 24, 2005 - 16 comments

Don't forget to save your receipts! Mark Thomas (creator of the Payphone Project, previously discussed on Metafilter here) has been saving his for years.
posted by dersins on Oct 8, 2005 - 14 comments

Disneyland obsessives. Some people live out their lives on Main Street.
posted by xowie on Sep 4, 2003 - 51 comments

What I Have Read well not me personally, but some guy has a bunch of stats/info on every book he has read since 1974, all 2031 of em..
posted by zeoslap on Mar 18, 2003 - 18 comments

I couldn't find Kevin Bacon anywhere on this list. I guess this guy prescribes to the "idle hands are the devil's workshop" world view. This bloke has apparently gone to great pains to list everyone he has ever known on his website. What a massive undertaking, as well as a complete waste of time.
posted by psmealey on Jan 7, 2003 - 22 comments

The strange range of human behavior continues to draw us like moths to a flame. Consider Amanda Fielding who continually performed self-surgery on her braincase, Catharina Geisslerin, the woman who vomited frogs, and the Collyer brothers, who collected so much junk that it crushed them in their own home. Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first dictionary of the English language, was compelled to whirl, twist, and make highly ritualized hand motions when going through doors. When he went for a walk, he touched every post he passed. If he missed one, he went back to touch it. Recent research suggests that obsessive-compulsive child behaviors can be caused by strep infection. Who do you think are the most interesting, eccentric, and compulsive personalities?
posted by Morphic on Oct 23, 2002 - 31 comments

Speaking of organized religion: Scientists claim there is a link between piety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
posted by costas on May 30, 2002 - 13 comments

shades of microserfs: man locked himself in his parents bathroom two years ago and refuses to come out. is fed by flat food slipped under the door.
posted by palegirl on Jan 5, 2001 - 35 comments