A pair of red, Naughty Monkey Double-Dare pumps allegedly worn by Sarah Palin during her stump for vice-president sold on an EBay auction for $2,025. They were not part of the Palin’s campaign clothing windfall currently languishing in trashbags at RNC headquarters, according to the seller, who claims to Gov GILF’s niece. Rather Alaska’s Frost Lady bought them herself at a store in Juneau; the peep-toe pumps retail for as much as $89.99 on Amazon.

Gift with purchase: A collection of  autographed pictures and a Sharpie used by Palin. As part of the purchase agreement, the former vice-presidential candidate is supposed to autograph the footwear.

Says Modi Frank–who runs Giving Engine, which manages auctions for non-profits and schools using EBay as a platform:

If this is indication of the vaue of her clothing, then the RNC should definitely begin auctioning off her clothes for charity, since charities are really hurting in this economy, and it would be a wonderful cause-marketing for Palin as well.

No word if the ruby colored faux-alligator shoes can control flying monkeys, or what the buyer, whose name was not revealed plans to do with them.

A new study says that consuming more than  330 milligrams of caffeine a day can lead to hallucinations. Oh, so those wingnut conspiracy theories are just the result of drinking lots of Mountain Dew? I feel so much better now.

 The amount needed experience otherworldly sensations–which may be linked to the release of cortisol caused by high caffeine intake–is 330 milligrams, which you can find in a grande medium cup of Starbucks drip. Or by slamming 4 cans of Red Bull. 

Conducted by researchers at Durham University and published in Personality and Individual Differences, the study:

offers some support for our first hypothesis, namely that when levels of stress are accounted for, caffeine intake is positively related to levels of psychosis-like experiences.

The study’s authors, Dr. Charles Fernyhough and Simon Jones, pointed out it was not clear if the caffeine had caused the hallucinations: It may just be that people under stress and more susceptible to hallucinations are also more likely to consume high levels of caffeine.

The media has run with the hallucinations angle, claiming that  drinking lots of coffee and tea can make you see dead people, though I’m more inclined to think caffeine is at the root of Ann Coulter’s hyper animated inanity.

 But in African Tradition Religions like santeria, espiritu, voodoo and the all-American hoodoo which is sorta the jazz of religions–it incorporates a variety of folk beliefs and magic from various Western African tribes, Catholicism, Native American beliefs and European folk and high magic–coffee is left on altars to honor one’s ancestors. So uh, maybe there’s something to this "dead people" thing after all.