Saturday, November 1, 2008

Bolivia Bug

Bolivia Bug
The Bolivia Bug AKA The Puss Caterpillar. Looks like a fluffy Persian Cat, but it's the most venomous caterpillar in the United States.

Space station trash plunging to Earth


Space station trash plunging to Earth: "A piece of space station trash the size of a refrigerator is poised to plunge through the Earth's atmosphere late Sunday, more than a year after an astronaut tossed it overboard."

NASA expects up to 15 pieces of the tank to survive the searing hot temperatures of re-entry, ranging in size from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kilograms).

If they reach all the way to land, the largest pieces could slam into the Earth's surface at about 100 mph (161 kilometers per hour). But a splashdown at sea is also possible, as the planet is two-thirds ocean.

"If anybody found a piece of anything on the ground Monday morning, I would hope they wouldn't get too close to it," Suffredini said.

Daylight Saving Time: Why Did We Do It?

Daylight Saving Time: Why Did We Do It?: "As far back as the 1700s, people recognized the potential to save energy by jumping clocks ahead one hour in the summer — Benjamin Franklin even wrote about it — although the idea was not put into practice until the 20th century."

Hamster On A Piano

Friday, October 31, 2008

Cheetahs on plane: Animal gets loose in cargo hold

Cheetahs on plane: Animal gets loose in cargo hold : "A Delta baggage worker got a bit of a fright before Halloween when she opened a jetliner's cargo door and found a cheetah running loose amid the luggage. Two cheetahs were being flown in the cargo area of a Boeing 757 passenger flight from Portland, Ore., to Atlanta on Thursday when one escaped from its cage, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Friday.

'They told us a large animal had gotten out of a container in the cargo hold and they were having to send someone to tranquilize it,' said one passenger, Lee Sentell of Montgomery, Ala."

Spoofing Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" Posters


Spoofing Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" Posters: "Shepard Fairey's Barack 'Hope' design might be 2008’s most seminal image—his nomination in TIME's Top 100 Most Influential People poll is most certainly forthcoming. But the poster's also become a hugely popular design to lampoon. Here're the best 25 parodies out there."

Pepsi's New Logo


Pepsi's New Logo: What Went Into the Update : "How long does it take to remake an icon? Try five months.

That's the amount of time Pepsi took to revamp its famous logo, after top executives Indra Nooyi and Massimo d'Amore called for a 'quantum leap' forward in transforming the soft-drink category and defining Pepsi as a cultural leader, said Frank Cooper, Pepsi's VP-portfolio brands."

Deal or No Deal: Biggest Bonehead Move

100 Illustrated Horror Film Posters: Parts 1&2


100 Illustrated Horror Film Posters: Part 1: "This Halloween season has had me reminiscing of the brilliant horror and sci-fi movie posters of years past. Particularly, I am a fan of the illustrated posters that used to be the staple of nearly every science fiction and horror film released. These posters are able to communicate so much about a film with a single, masterfully created image that it’s a shame this style isn’t so popular nowadays"

PART 2 --->

Ten Scariest Cars For Halloween


The Ten Scariest-Looking Cars Of All Time: "It's that wondrous time of year when our inner ghouls come out and we lurk the streets, be-costumed, reveling in our darker selves. Halloween night represents the one night we can cast off our cheeriness and embrace what lurks within the darkest corner of our souls. And though we must adorn ourselves with capes and masks to tell the world we're out for mischief, there are a number of automobiles that come prefabricated for ne'erdowelling across unlit streets. Below are the ten spookiest, creepiest and scary-cool looking cars ever seen by mere mortals."

Preacher is charged in heroin operation

Preacher is charged in heroin operation: "Fayetteville police were told the man known as Preacher didn’t sell heroin on Sundays, at least not until church was over.

Preacher was tied up conducting worship services at the church where he was pastor, Burning Bush Missionary Baptist, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday in the Clerk of Court’s Office.

Robert McQueen, the man known as Preacher and the owner of McQ Bail Bonds on Market Square, was the main player in a heroin operation that was busted Tuesday night, police said."

We're (not) #1!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Military Investigates Amnesia Beams


Military Investigates Amnesia Beams: "A team of scientists from the U.S. and China announced last week that, for the first time, they had found a means of selectively and safely erasing memories in mice, using the signaling molecule αCaMKII. It's a big step forward, and one that will be of considerable interest to the military, which has devoted efforts to memory manipulation as a means of treating post-traumatic stress disorder. But some of military research has been in another direction entirely."

How Hatred Transforms Your Brain


How Hatred Transforms Your Brain: "When you see somebody you hate, whether it's an evil ex or a mean colleague, your brain undergoes a rather unexpected transformation. A new study published in PLoS One today reveals that hatred isn't the blind, irrational emotion it might seem. In fact, hate activates the brain regions associated with higher reason and the ability to predict what other people will do."

AppVee - Daily iPhone app video reviews!

AppVee - Daily iPhone app video reviews! "AppVee is an iPhone obsessed, San Francisco based company. Seeing the huge potential of the App Store, we knew that we had a revolution on our hands. The iPhone has single-handedly changed the way we think about mobile computing. With this explosion, though, comes a tidal wave of developers and applications. Great for the consumer, but a nightmare to sort through. What's right for me? Is this worth the money? What about this versus that? Should I even bother downloading?

This is why we created AppVee.

AppVee is a review site with a unique perspective. We look closely at hundreds (soon to be, thousands) of apps and bring in-depth reviews to the consumer. Coupled with screenshots, video reviews, user reviews, recommendations, and real analysis, AppVee is looking to be the one-stop shop for deciding on and learning about new applications."

Overlooked Television Shows

Overlooked Television Shows: " For whatever reason, these have been critically praised, but largely unnoticed by the American public. Some are still on the air, and the others you can catch on Hulu or DVD."

8 Things to Expect in the Next iPhone Update


8 Things to Expect in the Next iPhone Update: "One of the great things about the iPhone is the regular software updates. Free and automatic improvements are piped, hot and steaming, to your pocket computer.

We don't know exactly when the next version of the iPhone operating system (v2.2) will arrive, but the leaks are springing fast, and the new OS looks like a useful update -- full of new toys.

Here's what the rumors say so far."

Man In The Dark




The Most Exciting Player on Each NBA Team


The Most Exciting Player on Each NBA Team

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

PhoneTag


John Daly Goes to Hooters, Gets So Drunk Cops Take Him to Jail to Sober Up


John Daly Goes to Hooters, Gets So Drunk Cops Take Him to Jail to Sober Up: "John Daly, the Joe Six-Pack of professional sports, has been cuffed, stuffed, poured into an orange jumpsuit and detained.

According to News-Record.com, Daly was held in custody Sunday after police said he was drunk off his arse in a Winston-Salem, NC restaurant. And as if it needs clarification, yeah, it was a Hooters."

Red on Women Drives Men Wild


Red on Women Drives Men Wild : "Red may be the color of love for a reason: It makes men feel more amorous towards women, a new study reports.

From ancient rituals to those red paper lace hearts on Valentines, red has been tied to carnal passions and romance in many cultures over the course of history.

In five psychological experiments, University of Rochester psychologists tested how different colors affected men's attitudes towards women."

AT&T Now Providing Free Wi-Fi Access To iPhone Users


AT&T Now Providing Free Wi-Fi Access To iPhone Users: "AT&T just announced that they will be providing free Wi-Fi access to iPhone users at various hotspots around the country, including airports, hotels and Starbucks. Here’s more info on how to access the free AT&T Wi-Fi and to locate AT&T Wi-Fi locations."

Why did Neanderthals have such big noses?


Why did Neanderthals have such big noses?: "The Neanderthal's huge nose is a fluke of evolution, not some grand adaptation, research suggests.

The Neanderthal nose has been a matter of befuddlement for anthropologists, who point out that modern cold-adapted humans have narrow noses to moisten and warm air as it enters the lung, and reduce water and heat loss during exhalation."

The Ten Best Car Design Elements Of All Time


The Ten Best Car Design Elements Of All Time: "Proving that decades of automotive history and design can be summarized and exemplified in a few small details, we, with the help of our readers, have isolated the ten best car design elements of all time. These are ten aesthetic features that represent eras, movements and philosophies in automotive design."

How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising'

Mad Men: "On Sunday, November 2, is the The Simpsons 19th 'Treehouse of Horror' Halloween episode. This year, the show will have a Mad Men spoof in a segment called 'How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising'…and it leaked! It looks like they've only spoofed the opening credits of Mad Men, but they did a damn near perfect job.]"

US Income Distribution

America's Regional Candy


America's Regional Candy: "Like sports teams and hot dog styles, candy inspires fervent regional loyalties. Thanks to the Great Depression, the candy industry was booming during the early 1900s, when a nickel was all people could afford for a high-energy snack or meal. It's kind of scary—maybe exciting for the sake of candy—to think we've come full circle, but regardless, economic crisis or not, we'll never stop loving the candies from home."

Copper door handles and taps kill 95% of superbugs in hospitals


Copper door handles and taps kill 95% of superbugs in hospitals: "Making door handles, taps and light switches from copper could help the country beat superbugs, scientists say.

A study found that copper fittings rapidly killed bugs on hospital wards, succeeding where other infection control measures failed.

In the trial at Selly Oak hospital, in Birmingham, copper taps, toilet seats and push plates on doors all but eliminated common bugs."

10 Immunity Boosters


10 Immunity Boosters

When You Look at a Face, You Look Nose First


When You Look at a Face, You Look Nose First: "When asked to determine if the face that test subjects were looking at was one that they had just seen a few minutes prior, test subjects first 'fixed' their eyes near the center of the nose, and when they moved their eyes to the second location on the face, it too was usually near the center of the nose, according to research from computer scientists at UC San Diego published in the journal Psychological Science in October 2008. Credit: Psychological Science"

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

20 Scariest Movies of All Time


20 Scariest Movies of All Time

TanTowels


TanTowels: "TanTowel claims to be the first company to incorporate self-tanning formula into a towelette, making it easy to store, travel with, and most importantly, apply. It doesn't streak or get all fake and orange, and it dries in about a minute so you won't stain your clothes."

Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia animation reference footage


Prince of Persia Animation Reference 1985 from jordan mechner on Vimeo.
Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia animation reference footage: "ordan Mechner, creator of the original Prince of Persia, has been posting his original development diary entries to his official blog to coincide with the exact date they were written 23 years ago. Each post is a treasure for fans of the games, but the October 20th entry is particularly special: it contains the animation reference video for the Prince Mechner shot in the Reader's Digest parking lot in 1985, using his kid brother as a model. Anyone who has ever played this game will know every once of David's motions by heart. Amazing."

Fearful Elephants Would Sooner Starve Than Cross Roads


Fearful Elephants Would Sooner Starve Than Cross Roads: "New research by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Elephants has found that African Elephants are quickly becoming trapped by new road construction cutting through their forest habitats.

The study, which appeared in today’s issue of Public Library of Science, says the elephants have adopted a “siege mentality” and literally cannot bring themselves to cross roadways, even in search of food."

Monday, October 27, 2008

A Man's Face Reveals His Fighting Ability


A Man's Face Reveals His Fighting Ability: "A man's ability to fight can be determined with great accuracy just by looking at his face."

The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success


The Kurt Cobain Guide to Startup Success : "The innovative mix of punk, pop hooks and 70’s guitar rock allowed Nirvana to change the face of popular music forever. And even though it’s likely they never imagined how big it would get, Cobain candidly reveals it was all according to plan in the 2006 documentary About a Son.

Take a look at the three elements that propelled Nirvana to the top of the charts. They just might help you succeed in your own entrepreneurial endeavors."

Stress may make you itch

Stress may make you itch: "Skin provides the first level of defense to infection, serving not only as a physical barrier, but also as a site for white blood cells to attack invading bacteria and viruses. The immune cells in skin can over-react, however, resulting in inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

Stress can trigger an outbreak in patients suffering from inflammatory skin conditions. This cross talk between stress perception, which involves the brain, and the skin is mediated the through the 'brain-skin connection'. Yet, little is know about the means by which stress aggravates skin diseases."

Australia scientists say bees can count to four

Australia scientists say bees can count to four: "SYDNEY (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered that honey bees can count to four, a report said here on Sunday.

A researcher from the University of Queensland put five markers inside a tunnel and placed nectar in one of them, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio reported.

Honey bees placed in the tunnel flew to the marker with the food, and would still fly to the same marker stripe when the food was removed.

'We find that if you train them to the third stripe, they will look subsequently in the third stripe,' researcher Mandyam Srinivasan said.

'If you train them to the fourth stripe, they will look the fourth stripe and so on. But their ability to count seems to go only up to four. They can't count beyond four.

'The more we look at these creatures that have a brain the size of a sesame seed, the more astonished we are. They really have a lot of the capacities that we so-called higher human beings possess.'

The research was carried out jointly with Swedish researcher Marie Dacke."

Restaurant closed after dead deer found in kitchen

Restaurant closed after dead deer found in kitchen : "HAMBURG, N.Y. (AP) -- Health officials shut down a suburban Buffalo restaurant after an inspector found employees butchering a dead deer inside the business. Erie County Health Department officials said they got a tip Friday about a dead deer in the China King restaurant in the town of Hamburg, just south of Buffalo.

An inspector soon arrived and saw the deer being butchered in the kitchen.

State health laws prohibit butchering an animal inside a restaurant.

Officials don't know whether the deer had been killed by a hunter or a vehicle. They said there was no indication the deer meat was served to any customers.

The message on the restaurant's answering machine Monday says it was closed because of 'family emergencies.'

� 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved."

IQ at age 10 may be linked to adult alcohol use

People with high scores as kids more likely to have drinking problem

IQ at age 10 may be linked to adult alcohol use:
"NEW YORK - Contrary to expectations, higher intelligence scores at age 10 may be associated with higher levels of alcohol intake and alcohol-related drinking problems during adulthood, study findings suggest.

Moreover, these associations appear 'markedly stronger among women than among men,' Dr. G. David Batty, from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and colleagues report in the American Journal of Public Health."

"Walking fish" reveals fresh evolutionary insights


"Walking fish" reveals fresh evolutionary insights: "An extraordinary fish that existed 375 million years ago had unique features in its head that helped pave the way for vertebrate animals to live on land, scientists said on Wednesday.

Scientists for the first time described features in the underside of the skull of Tiktaalik roseae, the so-called 'walking fish' discovered in the Canadian Arctic in 2004. It is considered an important transitional animal in the evolution of fish into amphibians, the first land-dwelling vertebrates."

Amazon Lists Barack Obama Mask Under "Terrorist Costume"


Amazon Lists Barack Obama Mask Under "Terrorist Costume": "The LA Times says that Amazon.com had a mask depicting democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama listed under the search term 'terrorist costume.' The listing has since been pulled but the LA Times has a screengrab.

This has, of course, offended Sen. Obama's supporters, (and presumably, lots of other people as well) as it is, you know, offensive.

Perhaps for the sake of appearing bipartisan, the LA Times also noted the prices of several other political costumes for sale on Amazon."

iPhone Apps Could Be the New MySpace Page


iPhone Apps Could Be the New MySpace Page : "Artists and labels have a new way to strengthen ties to fans and make them buy more music: mobile phone apps, which could be the new MySpace page.

An iPhone app might seem like an awkward way to distribute music when the device also supports podcasts and the iTunes music store, but the apps' versatility gives bands a great way to draw their fans closer."

Brains Work Best At Age of 39


Brains Work Best At Age of 39: "Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles are reporting that while some people may think 'life begins at 40,' all it seems to do is slow down. According to recent research, at age 39 our brain reaches its peak speed, and it's all down hill after that."

Almonds Reduce LDL Cholesterol and Help Stabilize Blood Sugar Levels


Almonds Reduce LDL Cholesterol and Help Stabilize Blood Sugar Levels: "The health benefits of almonds include reduced LDL cholesterol, reduced oxidative damage from smoking, and stabilized blood sugar levels after eating."

Super Nintendo Quiz

Australian snake-oil perpetual motion machine



boing boing

Google Earth for iPhone


Google Earth for iPhone: "Google Earth is now available on the iPhone and it's a long dream that just became reality for those who worked on the project since its inception, says Peter Birch, Google's earth product manager. 'This is the first opportunity we've had to be able to deliver a great experience [on a mobile platform]' he adds.Google Earth is available on the iPhone App Store today as a free download."

Timeline of U.S. Presidential Elections


Timeline of U.S. Presidential Elections:
"Welcome to the Timeline of U.S. Presidential Elections"

Sunday, October 26, 2008

MIT Energy Storage Discovery Could Lead to ‘Unlimited’ Solar Power


MIT Energy Storage Discovery Could Lead to ‘Unlimited’ Solar Power: "Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way of storing energy from sunlight that could lead to ‘unlimited’ solar power.

The process, loosely based on plant photosynthesis, uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. When needed, the gases can then be re-combined in a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity whether the sun is shining or not.

According to project leader Prof. Daniel Nocera, “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years. Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”"

40 Unwritten Rules to Live By

40 Unwritten Rules to Live By:
1. Never ask a woman if she wants to have sex by asking her if she wants to have sex.

2. It is more important to have good health insurance than good health.

3. Don't bluff more than once in a poker game with friends.

4. When one of the big bosses at work unexpectedly says something really cheery and friendly to you, he means absolutely nothing by it. Not even if he's your father.

5. Wear as much black as you can. It makes you look slimmer and cooler. But avoid black jeans.

6. When someone in your family is going through a divorce, always side with the blood relative.

Read More

Sunshine Cleaning


Sunshine Cleaning

In theaters: Coming Soon

Last Chance Harvey


Last Chance Harvey

In theaters: December 26, 2008

Don Draper's Guide