Archive for 2007

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Monday, November 26, 2007

 

MacGyver in Mesopotamia

‘Put your butt to use: Cigarette butts are a perfect fit for gun barrels and can help keep out dirt, sand or water. And they shoot out easily when the weapon is fired. For non-smokers, there are other options: in Vietnam, soldiers rubber-banded condoms around the tops of their guns.’


Sunday, November 25, 2007

 

Homeless Man Found Living In Elaborate Underground Home

‘A homeless contractor known as the “mole man” dug a multi-room 200-square foot home underground in Fresno that surprised police when they recently stumbled upon a hidden entrance. [..]

The home had a bed, a leak-proof roof, a kitchen and escape hatch, Local 6 reported.

Tracy said it took him about 2 months with a shovel and other tools to carve out the underground rooms.

The state said it is a danger to people living nearby and plan to demolish it.

Tracy said it is no big deal and he is already looking for a new location for his next underground home.’


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Belgium At Its Best

<dude> this is belgium at its best
<dude> our minister of defense takes a chopper to fly 60 kms to go see Al Gore's movie about climate change
<dude> beat that


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Scientists Point to Brain Region of ‘Free Won’t’

‘The capacity for free will is said to reside in the brain’s frontal lobes, which enable us to decide what actions we will take. Now researchers have discovered a spot in the frontal lobes that could be called the home of our “free won’t.”

The dorsal fronto-median cortex (dFMC), located in the center of the brain behind the forehead, becomes active when we inhibit an action, according to the authors of a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers Marcel Brass and Patrick Haggard think this may explain why some people are less adept at restraining their impulses.

“The capacity to withhold an action that we have prepared but reconsidered is an important distinction between intelligent and impulsive behavior,” said Brass, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and of Ghent University. This could have significant neuroethical implications, the authors state in their paper, since the inability to restrain impulses has been linked to antisocial and criminal behavior.’


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Eating A Bald Eagle

‘A man is caught, by a forest ranger, sitting at a makeshift campfire, and to the ranger’s horror, eating a bald eagle. The man is consequently put in jail for the crime. On the day of his trail, the conversation went something like this:

JUDGE: “Do you know that eating a bald eagle is a federal offense?”

MAN: “Yes I do. But if you let me argue my case, I’ll explain what happened.”

JUDGE: “Proceed.”

see it here »


Scary Maze Compilation

(3.5meg Flash video)

see it here »


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Cheerleader Run Over By Football Team

(4.8meg Flash video)

see it here »


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Saturday, November 24, 2007

 

Schizophrenia: The Curse That’s Almost a Blessing

‘New research is pointing to a different possibility: There may be no adaptive advantage provided by schizophrenia in and of itself, but rather from some genes that contribute to the disease. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, there is evidence that some of the gene variants associated with schizophrenia—especially a mutation in a gene called disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1)—have been selected for by evolution. This supports the idea that the disease may be a maladaptive combination of mutations that individually have the potential to enhance fitness. It could be a more complicated version of the familiar case of sickle cell anemia: having two mutant copies of a certain gene causes the disease, whereas having only one mutant copy provides protection against malaria.’


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Making a new door

‘This time I went for chip wood board to get it straight and stable. I also used a 4 layer glass. Two outer layers of 3mm float glass and two inner layers of 3mm plexi glass where the image were engraved. I had to use plexiglass as it conducts light way better than normal glass.’

If I had one tho, it would probably being a glowing goatse door. Because goatse is always funny. 🙂


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

 

Syphilis – Wikipedia

This is the wiki entry for Syphilis. Why, you ask? Because this small part of it amuses me greatly:

‘Until that time, as Fracastoro notes, syphilis had been called the “French disease” in Italy and Germany, and the “Italian disease” in France. In addition, the Dutch called it the “Spanish disease”, the Russians called it the “Polish disease”, the Turks called it the “Christian disease” or “Frank disease” (frengi) and the Tahitians called it the “British disease”.’

Also, the spiral shape of the organism is cool. That’s all. 🙂


Man-sized sea scorpion claw found

‘The immense fossilised claw of a 2.5m-long (8ft) sea scorpion has been described by European researchers.

The 390-million-year-old specimen was found in a Germany quarry, the journal Biology Letters reports.

The creature, which has been named Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, would have paddled in a river or swamp.

The size of the beast suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought, the team says.

The claw itself measures 46cm – indicating its owner would have been longer even than the average-sized human.’


Tuesday, November 20, 2007

 

In Basra, violence is a tenth of what it was before British pullback, general says

‘Attacks against British and Iraqi forces have plunged by 90 percent in southern Iraq since London withdrew its troops from the main city of Basra, the commander of British forces there said Thursday.

The presence of British forces in downtown Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, was the single largest instigator of violence, Maj. Gen. Graham Binns told reporters Thursday on a visit to Baghdad’s Green Zone.

“We thought, ‘If 90 percent of the violence is directed at us, what would happen if we stepped back?'” Binns said.

Britain’s 5,000 troops moved out of a former Saddam Hussein palace at Basra’s heart in early September, setting up a garrison at an airport on the city’s edge. Since that pullback, there’s been a “remarkable and dramatic drop in attacks,” Binns said.

“The motivation for attacking us was gone, because we’re no longer patrolling the streets,” he said.’


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random images – random pain in the arse

So the server move didn’t go quite as planned. Image site was basically fucked in the arse all weekend.

I still declare myself victorious in the cunning department tho. Ha! .. The migration itself went okay, just a few unforseen problems with server load and actually letting people view the site once it was migrated. 🙂

The whole thing is suddenly rather interesting, and may take a bit of my time this week.

For now, once some DNS changes sort themselves out, the image site should be running properly again. 🙂


Saturday, November 17, 2007

 

random images – server move

I’ve just spent the day moving the image site to a new server. You crazy hippies seem to quite like the pictures, and bandwidth is an ever growing problem.

But, I think I have it sorted now. 🙂

If I am as cunning as I think I am, the transition to the new server should be seamless and no one will notice anything [except the ratings stars disappearing until I figure out how I broke them 🙂 ].

If I’m as cunning as reality actually suggests I am, there may be a bit of downtime on the image site over the next day or two.

Time will decide. 🙂

If anyone notices any problems/improvements with speed or reliability or anything like that over the next little while, it’d be nice if you would leave a comment or send me a message to let me know.


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Friday, November 16, 2007

 

Ring a Ring of Posies, a Phone Full of Morons

‘Customer: I had an appointment today (Sunday) between 10-12 & nobody came.
Me: OK, tomorrow is the appointment.
Customer: But it was set for the 10th.
Me: Tomorrow is the 10th.
Customer: Somebody is messing with my brain. I have a hand-drawn calendar behind me. So the appointment is for Tuesday, the 10th.
Me: MONDAY, the 10th.
Customer: Whoa, you’re blowin’ my mind here.’


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Scruffles

‘When I was 17 i was at school doing a veterinary studies course, and as part of that course, we had to complete 2 full weeks of work experience at a vet clinic of our choice. Okay, no worries, I can handle that…right?

Um NO. [..]

The second week, a puppy was brought in to the clinic. It had scruffy black fur, and even though it was pretty dopey looking, I thought it was cute.
They placed it down on one of the tables and I stood by and watched what I assumed would be a routine check-up or something.’


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Thursday, November 15, 2007

 

Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything

‘Garrett Lisi, 39, has a doctorate but no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii, where he has also been a hiking guide and bridge builder (when he slept in a jungle yurt).

In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he snowboards. “Being poor sucks,” Lisi says. “It’s hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you’re trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month.”

Despite this unusual career path, his proposal is remarkable because, by the arcane standards of particle physics, it does not require highly complex mathematics.

Even better, it does not require more than one dimension of time and three of space, when some rival theories need ten or even more spatial dimensions and other bizarre concepts. And it may even be possible to test his theory, which predicts a host of new particles, perhaps even using the new Large Hadron Collider atom smasher that will go into action near Geneva next year.’


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

 

How Not To Flip Over A Car

(2.1meg Flash video)

see it here »


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Shut up, Spain’s king tells Chavez

‘Spain’s King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to “shut up” as the Ibero-American summit drew to a close in Santiago, Chile.

The outburst came after Mr Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a “fascist”.

Mr Chavez then interrupted Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s calls for him to be more diplomatic, prompting the king’s outburst. [..]

Mr Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, despite his microphone being turned off. The king leaned forward and said: “Why don’t you shut up?”

According to reports, the king used a familiar term normally used only for close acquaintances – or children.’


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Man shot in bottom over loud music

‘A Perth man has been charged with attempted murder after a 25-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and stomach during an argument over loud music.

Police alleged the younger man was at his Boddington home with friends when a 56-year-old man visiting neighbours began arguing with him about the loud music.

The older man allegedly threatened the residents with a piece of timber before he left and returned with a rifle.’


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7 unusual propeller-driven vehicles

‘back in the 1920s george bennie designed and built the railplane, a propeller-driven monorail initially intended to travel between glasgow and edinburgh.

the design was way ahead of its time, the railplane capsule home to a 4-blade propeller at each end, each of these powered by its own electric motor – the result a cruising speed of 120mph.’


US intelligence official: You get privacy when your definition matches ours

‘Donald Kerr, a top intelligence official with the US government, says that citizens need to change their definition of privacy to match the government’s definition, the AP reports. Appointed Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 2005, Kerr is now the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Kerr is one of many in the intelligence community who finds Americans’ views on privacy to be antiquated and unreasonable. [..]

Americans need to shift their definition of privacy to center instead on the proper maintenance and protection of personal data by government and business entities. Kerr said that “privacy, I would offer, is a system of laws, rules, and customs with an infrastructure of Inspectors General, oversight committees, and privacy boards on which our intelligence community commitment is based and measured. And it is that framework that we need to grow and nourish and adjust as our cultures change.”‘


Beer cheaper than water

‘British supermarkets are selling beer at prices cheaper than water and soft drinks, with cans sold for as little as 50 cents.

Supermarkets were stocking shelves with beer priced so low they were actually losing money, the Mail on Sunday reported.

Experts estimated that the supermarkets were losing up to 18c per can through excise and production costs, the newspaper said.

Many of the major supermarkets were now selling beer for just 50 pence ($1.15) a litre. The same supermarkets sell mineral water for 56p-92p a litre.

Own-brand cola sells for 56p-65p.

The British health department has commissioned an independent review of alcohol pricing and promotion and has not ruled out changing regulations.’


Hoons to be humiliated in car wreck plan

‘Car hoons will be penalised and humiliated under a NSW government initiative to wreck the vehicles of offenders and publish video footage of the destruction.

Premier Morris Iemma says the plan proposes to destroy hoons’ cars in demonstration tests under controlled conditions.

“Car hoons engage in potentially lethal, property destroying, anti-social behaviour,” Mr Iemma said in a statement today.

“We’re turning the tables. We’ll destroy their property – but do it for the right reasons.”‘


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‘Stealth’ Antenna Made Of Gas, Impervious To Jamming

‘A new antenna made of plasma (a gas heated to the point that the electrons are ripped free of atoms and molecules) works just like conventional metal antennas, except that it vanishes when you turn it off.

That’s important on the battlefield and in other applications where antennas need to be kept out of sight. In addition, unlike metal antennas, the electrical characteristics of a plasma antenna can be rapidly adjusted to counteract signal jamming attempts.

Plasma antennas behave much like solid metal antennas because electrons flow freely in the hot gas, just as they do in metal conductors. But plasmas only exist when the gasses they’re made of are very hot. The moment the energy source heating a plasma antenna is shut off, the plasma turns back into a plain old (non conductive) gas. As far as radio signals and antenna detectors go, the antenna effectively disappears when the plasma cools down.’


Saturday, November 10, 2007

 

Attack at Pelindaba nuclear facility

‘A brazen attack by four gunmen on the Pelindaba nuclear facility has left a senior emergency officer seriously injured.

Anton Gerber, Necsa emergency services operational officer spoke to the Pretoria News from his hospital bed hours after the attack.

He was shot in the chest when the gunmen stormed the facility’s emergency response control room in the early hours of Thursday morning. [..]

Necsa spokesperson Chantal Janneker confirmed the attack.

She declined to say how the gunmen had gained access to the facility or whether they had stolen anything.

Janneker said Necsa was conducting an internal investigation into the attack.

Once the police investigation was complete Necsa would divulge what happened, she said.’


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Friday, November 9, 2007

 

2 Girls 1 Cup

You won’t like this video. You may vomit from watching it. 🙂 It’s not as bad as the least safe for work video ever, but it’s getting there.

This is very definitely NSFW.

Also, there’s some reaction videos of other people not liking it aswell. 🙂

see it here »


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FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here

‘Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.

The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.

A check of federal court records in California did not reveal any prosecutions developed from falafel trails.’


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Man killed in wood-chipper accident

‘Authorities in Orange County are working to recover the remains of a 24-year-old Anaheim man who was killed Wednesday in a wood chipper accident in Tustin.

The tree service worker “was standing at the back end of the chipper, throwing branches into it with his co-workers nearby,” said Sgt. Pat Welch of the Tustin Police Department.

“One of them looked over, and he was gone.”

Authorities took the wood chipper and the truck attached to it to a parking structure at the coroner’s office, where they plan to dismantle it.’


Unknown Singer Has Amazing Voice

This fellow apparently won a competition to let him audition in a recording studio. He does a good job. 🙂

(7.0meg Flash video)

see it here »


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