Archive for January, 2006

news

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

 

First Goatse

`For the last couple of years, my friend Laszlo Toth has been conducting a cruel experiment. He shows his friends Goatse and then takes a photo of their reaction.’

You can read this site first, or go directly to the first goatse flickr page.

Is this Ron Jeremy? I woulda thought a world famous porn star would be able to deal with the revelation that is goatse.

If you’re somehow oblivious to the internet phenomenom thats taken the world by storm, then you can see it for yourself. You love it. [The original site was taken down years ago and it’s difficult to find a mirrored copy at the moment. This links to a smaller version of the image, but it’s large enough for you to get the idea. :)]


language

Woman Who Died in ’03 Left in Front of TV

`A dead woman dressed in white was positioned in a chair in front of a television set for 2 1/2 years because she told her caregiver that she didn’t want to be buried and planned to return, the coroner said.

“Don’t show my body when I’m dead,” Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O’dell Owens said Monday in describing Johannas Pope’s wishes. “Don’t bury me. I’m coming back.”

Pope, 61, died Aug. 29, 2003. Her caretaker and friend, whose name has not been released, left the woman upstairs in the home with the television and air conditioning on while the body slowly decayed and mummified, authorities said.’

Some family members continued to live downstairs in the house since her death.’


Wild boar caught snoozing in Bavarian bedroom

`A wild boar was found taking a nap in the guest bedroom in a Bavarian family’s house after fleeing from hunters, police said on Monday. [..]

When the 60-kg (132 lb.) boar woke up late on Saturday afternoon after sleeping for a few hours, it started panicking again when it could not find its way out of the house. That’s when the family noticed their uninvited visitor.

They called in a neighbour, also a hunter, who shot and killed the animal.’


support

Take a leap into hyperspace

`Every year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year’s winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There’s just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?’


research

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

 

Man dies after trying to set neighbors’ houses ablaze

`An elderly man apparently upset about a parking dispute died in his burning house after trying to set fire to two of his neighbors’ homes using “homemade bombs,” authorities said. [..]

Police received a call about an explosion early Sunday and found the man standing in the street holding two handguns. One of his arm was in flames. When police told him to drop the guns, he fled into his house. Minutes later, flames and smoke came from the home, followed by several explosions, the city said in a statement. [..]

Investigators said the man had a long-standing feud with several neighbors regarding parking on the cul-de-sac. Neighbors said he also had other gripes.

“He was always mad at the whole neighborhood, always screaming at the kids especially,” [a neighbour] said. “He hated everybody. I just never thought it would get to that point.”‘


Methamphetamine

`Perhaps investing in better lab equipment becomes pointless when (a) it might blow up at any moment, and (b) the police can seize all of it at any time. Individuals busted for developing in-house meth labs now face the same scrutiny as captured sex offenders: in December of 2005, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation launched an Internet Registry of convicted methamphetamine manufacturers.

In North Carolina, crystal meth is considered a weapon of mass destruction, invoked in accordance with the Patriot Act under the state’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Weapons Act. Under the law, a meth conviction results in a sentence ranging from 12 years to life in prison on each count.’


The Electric Unicycle

`Some time ago I built a self-balancing two-wheeled scooter. Since then I realized that two wheels are redundant, and only a single wheel is needed to make a ridable vehicle. A vehicle with a single wheel is much smaller and lighter. It weighs under 30 lbs and is easily carried with one hand when going up stairs or on public transportation.

The Electric Unicycle’s only control is the on-off switch. The rider controls everything else by shifting his weight. You lean forward to accelerate, lean backwards to brake, and gyrate your arms wildly to turn. With a little practice you can get more graceful and keep your arms mostly by your side.’

with pictures and video as well as software and construction plans.


information

US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist

`American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later.

Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.

The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned.

The director of the film, Callum Macrae, said yesterday: “The timing and nature of this raid is extremely disturbing. It is only a few days since we first approached the US authorities and told them Ali was doing this investigation, and asked them then to grant him an interview about our findings.’


podcast

Strip Out The Fans, Add 8 Gallons of Cooking Oil

`Common sense dictates that submerging your high-end PC in cooking oil is not a good idea. But, of course, engineering feats and science breakthroughs were made possible by those who dared to explore the realms of the non-conventional. Members of the Munich-based THG lab are only too happy to confirm this fact. And not only did we find that our AMD Athlon FX-55 and GeForce 6800 Ultra equipped system didn’t short out when we filled the sealed shut PC case with cooking oil – but the non-conductive properties of the liquid coupled created a totally cool and quiet high-end PC, devoid of the noise pollution of fans. The PC case – or should we say tank – also offered a new and novel way to display and show off your PC components.’


store

Court frees Czech diplomat killer

`A former Czech army doctor convicted of shooting dead Nigeria’s consul to Prague after falling prey to fraudsters has been spared his full jail term.

Prague’s public prosecutor decided not to oppose a court motion to free Jiri Pasovsky, 74, on grounds of ill health.

He was sentenced in June to eight years in jail, cut to five on appeal.

Pasovsky killed consul Michael Lekara Wayid, 50, and injured another embassy employee in 2003 after losing more than $600,000 (£340,000) to Nigerian conmen.’


Firefox: Changing User Agents to Get Access to Extra Content

`How to change user agents so that you can view “Members Only” areas and get access to extra content this is only meant for other browsers (such as Internet Explorer)’

Basically you can set your user agent to “Googlebot 2.1” and web servers let you in.


news

Iran to Begin Enriching Uranium

`ABC News has learned that Iran intends to begin enriching uranium — the critical step in making material for nuclear weapons — a move European diplomats and officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, have tried to prevent over the past three years.

Sources with knowledge of Iran’s nuclear program tell ABC News that a senior Iranian official notified the IAEA verbally over the weekend of its intention to introduce uranium hexafluoride gas, or UF6, into centrifuges at a facility in Natanz, 150 miles south of Tehran.’


pokemon kid

I blame the parents. Gotta catch them all? Catch some sorta anti-retardation disease first, I reckon.

see it here »


language

Women warned over kiss at cricket

`Same-sex kissing appears to have been added to the growing list of things banned at the cricket.

Two women in the crowd who locked lips at a one-day international in New Zealand on the weekend were surprised to receive a visit from a security guard warning them not to do it again.

The women’s smooch while dancing to music between overs at the New Zealand-Sri Lanka match in Napier on Sunday had been flashed on the ground’s big-screen monitor amid much cheering. [..]

“The security guy came up and said that we were distracting the crowd and we would get kicked out if we did it again,” Fitzgibbon, 29, told the Hawkes Bay Today newspaper.’

What the fuck? First of all, girls kissing each other should be encouraged. 🙂 Second of all, if you don’t wanna distract the crowd, don’t put something distracting on the giant television! Idiots.


How To Order Wine Without Looking Like And Asshole

‘2. Don’t ask, “What’s cheap?” [..]

9. DO NOT SMELL THE CORK! – When I see someone do this I know I’m dealing with a complete amateur. Guess what you’re gonna smell? Cork! [..]

10. DON�T SMELL THE PLASTIC CORK EITHER!- I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people do this. Lots of wine makers are moving away from natural cork to synthetics. Sniffing a plastic cork tells the world you’re a moron. [..]

15. The Big Glasses — At my bistro we have very serviceable red and white wine glasses. However, some yuppies have a wine glass fetish and insist on sipping $6 Chianti out of a $50 Riedel balloon glass. Stop whining. [..]’


support

US draws up space tourism rules

`Space tourists must be screened to ensure they are not terrorists, according to proposed regulations from the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The draft report’s suggestions aim to prevent a terrorist from destroying a spacecraft or using it as a weapon.

However, the report has no strict proposals on the health of any would-be space tourists.’


research

Hide-and-seek dad spun out

`Wedged in his sister’s 8kg capacity washing machine with his knees pressed tight to his chest, Robin Toom, 30, was stuck and hot.

“I just hopped in there, playing hide and go seek with the kids,” the baker’s assistant said yesterday from Townsville.

“I got in there and couldn’t even get the lid down and the kids came in and said ‘ha ha we found you’.”

With his wife, sister, brother-in-law and the kids crammed in the bathroom around the machine, embarrassment turned to perspiration.’


Churchill wanted Nazi to die in electric chair

`Winston Churchill wanted to send Adolf Hitler to the electric chair and let Gandhi starve to death, according to secret documents revealed today. Britain’s wartime Prime Minister believed senior Nazis should be summarily executed without trial.

In the 1940s, traitors and war criminals were hanged but he suggested borrowing an electric chair from the US.

Notes of Cabinet documents, which have just been released, show colleagues urged him to moderate his views on Gandhi, fearing repercussions if he died as a result of his hunger strike.’


Lindsay Lohan causes massive DoS war

`Within hours, it went from flame war to an Internet Jihad minus guys with Ak-47’s and camels. Practically the entire Ytmnd community, combined with a sizeable chunk of Somethingawful.com, 4chan.org and Newgrounds.com descended upon the Ebaumsworld livechat, forums and techsupport. Chaos ensued, with beastly ping floods, DoS and chunks of code apparently uploaded onto sections of Ebaumsworld. Predictably, it also aroused the interest of numerous script kiddies, who are currently running a competition to see who can wipe out Ebaums world completely.’


information

Belafonte to Chavez: Bush is a ‘terrorist’

‘American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called U.S. President George W. Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Belafonte led a delegation of Americans, including actor Danny Glover and Princeton University scholar Cornel West, that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday. Some in the group attended Chavez’s television and radio broadcast Sunday.

“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution,” Belafonte told Chavez during the broadcast.’


podcast

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

`Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It’s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. [..]

Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called “Preventing Cyberstalking.” It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet “without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy.”‘


store

four eyes mind-fucking pic

`In honor of my new glasses, here’s a photoshopped pic that makes my head hurt.’

It really does hurt to look at it. I can only glance at it for a few seconds before my eyes get sore and my brain starts to hurt.


Taliban resurgence sparks troop boost

`Australia will boost its military presence in Afghanistan to more than 500 troops to counter an increase in violence from a resurgent Taliban.

Two Chinook helicopters and 110 special forces soldiers will be deployed to the troubled country, seen as a front line in the war against terror.

The Chinooks and their support crews will also aid reconstruction efforts, including supporting Australia’s 200-strong provincial reconstruction team, scheduled to be sent to southern Afghanistan in April.’


news

In Your Facebook.com

`[..] “We were just being, well, college students, and they used it against us,” says Mr. Stoneman, a senior at George Washington University in Washington. He is convinced that the campus security force got wind of a party he and some buddies were planning last year by monitoring Facebook.com, the phenomenally popular college networking site. The officers waited till the shindig was in full swing, Mr. Stoneman grouses, then shut it down on discovering under-age drinking.

Mr. Stoneman and his friends decided to fight back. Their weapon of choice? Facebook, of course.’


In Response To The “Random Facts” That Are Being Generated On The Internet

‘I’m aware of the made up declarations about me that have recently begun to appear on the Internet and in emails as “Chuck Norris facts.” I’ve seen some of them. Some are funny. Some are pretty far out. Being more a student of the Wild West than the wild world of the Internet, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. It’s quite surprising. I do know that boys will be boys, and I neither take offense nor take these things too seriously. Who knows, maybe these made up one-liners will prompt young people to seek out the real facts as found in my recent autobiographical book, “Against All Odds?” They may even be interested enough to check out my novels set in the Old West, “The Justice Riders,” released this month. I’m very proud of these literary efforts.
~ Chuck Norris’

Followup to Chuck Norris: Top Thirty Facts.


language

Mom Sues After 5-Year-Old Allegedly Served Long Island Iced Tea

`A mother in New York is suing an Applebee’s restaurant after her 5-year-old son was allegedly served a Long Island Iced Tea instead of apple juice. [..]

Pereles said she did not realize her son was drinking a concoction of white rum, gin, vodka, triple sec, Coke and sweet-and-sour mix until it was too late. The boy’s eyes became glazed and he began to laugh uncontrollably, according to a report.

“When you’re looking at your 5-year-old and you’re asking him, quiet down Seth, sit still and you see that mentally and physically he cannot comply with what you’re asking him to do because he is under the influence,” Pereles said.’


Molecule of the Month

`Each month a new molecule will be added to the list on this page. The links will take you to a page at one of the Web sites at a University Chemistry Department or commercial site in the UK, the US, or anywhere in the world, where useful (and hopefully entertaining!), information can be found about a particularly interesting molecule.’


support

Program a robot and control it on the web right now!

`Michael wrote up a special how to and guide for MAKE about a robot you can program and control over the web right now! – “Before you roll your eyes and tell me about all the other robots you’ve seen on-line and at robot shows, let me tell you why this one is different. You have to program it, or it won’t do anything. And by that I mean you ssh into the robot, write a program, compile it on the robot, and run it on the robot.” Here’s how it works and how to try it out…

Log into the robot via ssh. Do this now: it’s live, online. The robot is at robot.linuxrobots.org, user robot, password robot.’


research

Amputees have star roles in war games

`The United States government has hired a bunch of poor souls who lost their arms and legs in accidents and has rigged them up with bags of fake blood so they can play wounded civilians in war games down at Fort Polk, La.

Not only that but Cubic, the defence contractor that produces these games, has also hired 250 Arabic-speaking immigrants at $220 a day (all figures U.S.) as “Cultural Role Players” in the war games. [..]

“The best way to describe what we’re doing here,” says one of the U.S. Army intelligence officers who plan the games, “is that we’re producing a very complex movie with a huge number of plotlines and a very high budget.”‘


HIV Bombers

`Al-Qaeda is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS virus, according to documents revealed to the Sunday Mirror.

Terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their “kill rate” from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe.

Under the heading “HIV/Hepatitis” the document states: “There is evidence that terrorists might be deliberately recruiting volunteers with diseases that are spread by blood transference.”‘