Yoda In Your Pocket - $8.95

Do you need constant advice? Do you wish Yoda was there to help you?  You need Yoda in Your Pocket from the NeatoShop!   With the push of a button Yoda will be there to lead you through your day.

Be sure to check out all the amazing Keychains & Key Covers available at the NeatoShop!

Have you ever wanted to play X Box games just by thinking about moving the character on the screen? Well, now we are one step closer to making that dream a reality with an experiment conducted at Washington University in St. Louis. Patients were able to send signals from their brain directly to a computer to control a cursor on the screen. This will lead to incredible advances in medicine, computing and most importantly…. instantly Tweeting  from your brain.

A temporary surgical implant enabled patients to “talk” to a computer. Just by thinking the words aloud in their head they were able to control a cursor on a computer screen. The brain-computer interface (BCI) technology could one day be used to help people who are unable to talk or have other physical disabilities due to brain injury. The technology could one day be used to read a person’s mind.

Link

Who killed the hybrid car? It seems that 100 years before the Prius was mass produced Porsche sold what was the first hybrid gas electric car. The vehicle used a gas engine to run an electric generator which powered the motor, allowing a battery to run the car if it ran out of fuel. Built in 1900, none of the original cars exist so it was painstakingly recreated to be put on display at this year’s New York Auto Show.  Link

In movies and television the killer always gets caught in the end.  We have come to expect that good will always triumph over evil no matter what. That’s why this list of fourteen serial killers who were never caught is important to remind us that sometimes the bad guy does get away. Most of the killers on the list you have heard of like Jack the Ripper and The Zodiac Killer. But then there is “Beer Man” named so because he left beer bottles beside the body of each of his victims.  Talk about a crazy party. Link

Since humans were able to conceive of the concept of time they have wanted to know the future. And with the advent of Google we have come even more expectant of having any and all information at our fingertips. Have you ever found yourself wanting to Google something that doesn’t exist yet? Sports scores to a game that hasn’t been played? Find results for the 2012 presidential election? Well now someone has cataloged future events for each year as determined by the first page of Google search results. What comes up is an interesting list of visions of what’s to come. Only a small portion of the time line is shown here. Link

Francesco Capponi turned eggs into single-use pinhole cameras. The resulting images (if I understand him correctly), were imprinted on the inside of the eggs when they were cracked open. He provides step-by-step instructions on how you can do the same.

Photos (warning: some nudes) and Instructions via Make

Joe is a young paraplegic rabbit. Liam designed a way to put wheels on him so he can get around without dragging his hindquarters. This is just one of the many cute stories at NeatoBambino you might miss if you don't check it out every day. Link

Professor CaT Pardus took a Nerf Maverick revolver and made it all steampunk-y. Despite the heavy modifications, the "Dreameater" remains fully functional for all your Nerf defensive needs.

I really like the little details that Pardus included, particularly the dials on the side and the curled work in the trigger. You can view several more pictures and a video at the link.

Link via Walyou

Yes, Bucket of Blood Street in Holbrook, Arizona, is completely real. There appear to be Google Street View images available, but I'm afraid to look at them.

Google Maps Link via reddit via Super Punch

(Video Link)

David Hu and Nathan J. Mlot of the Georgia Institute of Technology investigated claims that when flooded out, fire ants will link together to form effective rafts:

"They'll gather up all the eggs in the colony and will make their way up through the underground network of tunnels, and when the flood waters rise above the ground, they'll link up together in these massive rafts," Mlot said. Together with Georgia Tech systems-engineering professor Craig Tovey, the scientists collected fire ants and dunked clumps of them in water to see what would happen.

In less than two minutes the ants had linked "hands" to form a floating structure that kept all the insects safe. Even the ants down below can survive this way, thanks to tiny hairs on the ants' bodies that trap a thin layer of air.

"Even when they're on the bottom of the raft, they never technically become submerged," Mlot said.

As the above video shows, the rafts stay together even under substantial pressure.

Link via Geekosystem

Artist Phil Noto made this shoe for a custom sneaker art show at the Bold Hype Gallery in New York City. I'd hazard a guess that the number 27 refers to a specific vessel, but it's hard to know precisely which one.

Link via Everyday, No Days Off | Artist's Website | Photo by the artist

(Video Link)

Philosophical debates are really a lot more interesting when resolved by lightsaber duels, which is why OneMinuteGalactica rewrote the script to Episode IV with quotations from French existentalist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. The producers include these handy viewing instructions:

And obviously this will make no sense if you understand French. If you do know it, hit yourself in the head repeatedly before watching this. And then hit yourself repeatedly when you're done watching.

via Nerdcore

Previously by OneMinuteGalactica:
What to Do on a Space Date
Spock Learns about Anger Management

You'd think that being a Police Chief means that you can do police things. Like making an arrest, for instance. But you'd be wrong - at least according to the police union.

Here's the strange tale of how Scranton, Pennsylvania, Police Chief Dan Duffy got into trouble for making a drug arrest:

The Scranton police union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the city for an off-duty drug arrest made by Police Chief Dan Duffy in March.

The complaint, which was filed with the state Labor Relations Board on April 14, takes issue with the chief arresting a man who was allegedly in possession of marijuana because the chief is not a member of the collective bargaining unit and was "off duty" when the March 20 arrest was made.

"I think it's absurd. I'm not going to turn my head on crime that takes place," Chief Duffy said. "I took the same oath (as a police officer) that everyone else took.

"On my day off and I'm driving around as the police chief, and that's wrong?" he asked.

The complaint states that "the work of apprehending and arresting individuals has been the sole and exclusive province of members of the bargaining unit," and that the city did not inform or negotiate with the union that the chief would be "performing bargaining unit work."

Link

Can't find a job? Perhaps it's your lack of cape that's hampering your job search. Never fear - Workforce Central Florida has got your back (literally!) with a shiny red cape.

The federally funded jobs agency spent $14,000 on 6,000 satin superhero capes:

The "Cape-A-Bility Challenge" is part of an "Everyday Superheroes" theme the agency has adopted. Its website features videos of employers, job seekers and the agency's chairman of the board Owen Wentworth, in capes similar to those the agency will distribute.

Shot in slow-mo and underscored by a heroic soundtrack, Wentworth strikes a superman pose, dramatically removing his glasses. In another scene he taps out a message on his BlackBerry.

Public reactions are super swift, which left us wondering whether super villainy is involved:

"OK, $73,000 for the 'Cape-A-Bility Challenge' and $14,000 for capes?" she said. "And this will be helping who?" Burman wondered if the capes would "have some sort of magical powers to obtain a job faster" and predicted few would rush to join the ranks of the "Super Unemployed."

Workforce Central Florida ended up scrapping the campaign: Link

Whilst Americans are busy shopping at the mall (or too busy scrounging for work), the International Monetary Fund released a forecast that signalled the end of the American economic dominance.

According to the IMF, the Age of America will end in 2016:

In addition to comparing the two countries based on exchange rates, the IMF analysis also looked to the true, real-terms picture of the economies using "purchasing power parities." That compares what people earn and spend in real terms in their domestic economies.

Under PPP, the Chinese economy will expand from $11.2 trillion this year to $19 trillion in 2016. Meanwhile the size of the U.S. economy will rise from $15.2 trillion to $18.8 trillion. That would take America's share of the world output down to 17.7%, the lowest in modern times. China's would reach 18%, and rising.

Link