First of all, I apologize for the lack of posting. It’s been a busy week at work and I haven’t been getting that much sleep, coming home around 11pm-1am. Even had to go into work today for a few hours to finish testing some stuff.
NYC couple hail cab for 2,400-mile ride – Betty and Bob Matas have retired and are moving to Arizona, but like many New Yorkers they don’t drive, and they don’t want their cats to travel all that way in an airliner cargo hold.
Swimmer’s life at risk after record Amazon trip – Slovenian Martin Strel, after braving crocodiles, piranhas, disease and the threat of an imminent heart attack, on Sunday completed a record-setting 66-day, 3,274-mile (5,268 km) swim down the Amazon River and was taken to a hospital.
Jesus drinking Coca-Cola? Not this Easter – An Italian film showing Jesus Christ drinking Coca-Cola sparked such strong protest from the soft-drinks giant that it blocked the film’s Easter weekend premiere, the film makers said.
Captured Lightning: 2.2 million volt Lichtenberg Figure (from Digg) – The interior of an 18″ square x 1″ piece of Plexiglas was charged to 2.2 million volts (MV) using a 5 MV particle accelerator. A layer of excess electrons become trapped deep inside, When discharged, the excess charge escaped with a bright flash and a loud bang. The hot, lightning-like discharge created thousands of microscopic fractures inside the acrylic, resulting in a branching “Captured Lightning” sculpture (or Lichtenberg Figure). Read more about how these beautiful objects are made at:
http://lichdesc.teslamania.com
Debunking myths about the “Third World” (Amazing graphics) (from Krrkb) – With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, Prof. Hans Rosling uses software from Gapminder debunks a few myths about the “developing” world. This global health visionary has discovered a powerful new way to communicate complex data about the world; his remarkable interactive graphs help deliver profound insights about global trends and will change forever the way you think about “us” and “them.” Rosling is professor of international health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a nonprofit that brings vital global data to life. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA.) More TEDTalks at www.TED.com
Take a Peep at This Story – Americans eat enough peeps before Easter to circle the equator — twice. Interesting video about those Easter marshmallow candy.
Today’s realistic video: GTA IV trailer in real life (from Digg) – While its not a down-to-the-finite-details replica of the Grand Theft Auto IV trailer, it’s pretty darned spot-on. If you factor in that he made it using only clips that he could find on YouTube, it’s even more amazing. When they cut to that one shot of the actor … you’ll be wondering if they used that for the actual game trailer. Compare that to the real trailer of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Puff Piece – Harvard tells Hollywood to ban cigarettes from kids’ movies. – Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine at U.C. San Francisco and creator of the Smoke Free Movies campaign, says Glickman probably expected Harvard to come up with a limp education campaign and leave it at that. But Harvard got tough. In recommendations presented to the industry last month and made public this week, Harvard said the studios should eliminate smoking altogether from films “accessible to children and youth.”
Uganda scraps “sexist” adultery law – Uganda’s Constitutional Court ordered the changes to the Penal Code, under which it was legal for a married man to have an affair with an unmarried woman but against the law for a married woman to have an affair with an unmarried man.
Photo in the News: Century-Old Fish Caught in Alaska – Commercial fishers in the Bering Sea recently hauled in the female shortraker rockfish seen above, which scientists say was between 90 and 115 years old. Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used growth rings in the fish’s ear bone, or otolith, to make their age estimate.
Badass origami stuff – Some REALLY amazing origami art here.
360’s Guitar Hero II guitar works in Windows, Frets on Fire – The USB-equipped X-plorer guitar that ships with the just-released Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 has some interesting tricks up its nonexistant but metaphorically convenient sleeve. No, we’re not talking about breaking or shape-shifting (sheesh) — we’re talking about things like effects pedals and oh, what’s this, Windows support? Randy tipped us off that the guitar controller works in Windows Vista, but we had to check for ourself. The above image was captured in Windows XP. The five frets control the first five buttons, Back and Start control buttons 7 and 8, the d-pad and strummer control the Point of View Hat, the whammy bar controls the X Rotation, Star Power controls the Y Rotation, and the Z Axis sorta just wiggles when you move the guitar. The X Axis / Y Axis does nothing (gotta save something for that effects pedal, no?). Sweet! I can’t wait for the wireless version to come out now so I can play Frets on Fire with a wireless guitar on my Vista box.
Wrapped in Subway Logos, Free City Condom Is a Hit – In just a month, the city gave away five million of its new subway-themed condoms, officials said yesterday. Lest you read past that number unimpressed, consider that that was about two condoms for every man living in the city — more than the city distributed in all of 2003.
Online hoax ad strips home of everything – An online ad offering everything in the house for free left one landlord with quite a shock. By the time she realized what was going on, the house had been stripped of its light fixtures, hot water heater — even the kitchen sink. … “In the ad, it said come and take what you want. Everything is free,” she said. “Please help yourself to anything on the property.”
Sub loses job over pinchy punishment – Four boys said spring-type clothespins were placed over their upper or lower lips for talking too much in class, Amanda-Clearcreek Primary School principal Mike Johnsen wrote in a letter to parents this week.
Girl had suspected ‘boyfriend’ was woman – A 14-year-old girl authorities allege was sexually abused by a 30-year-old woman who posed as a teenage boy said she didn’t know about the ruse but eventually suspected it.