In 2005, Microsoft made a "Jump In" ad for their Xbox 360 console that never aired. The ad, deemed too controversial, showed commuters on a subway platform playing "shoot 'em up" with their fingers (Bang!).
Like many viral things, the ad has recently gone 'round the web again, so here it is for all of you who haven't seen it: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]
And if you like that, check out the casting call for the banned Xbox 360 shoot out ad (which is actually better than the actual ad!):
The cool factor is pretty high on this one: Cool Jazz guitar-shaped ice that doubles as a stirrer.
The silicone ice tray makes 3 ice guitars and costs $8.
Link - via clusterflock
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who built his crime-fighter reputation by taking on crime, corruption, and ironically, prostitution, was himself linked to a very expensive prostitution ring:
Last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation called the Emperors Club. The club charged up to $5,500 an hour for one if its prostitutes, who were rated on its Web site on a scale of one to seven diamonds. [...]
Administration officials would not say whether this was the ring with which the governor allegedly become involved. The federal complaint mentions a Emperors Club suspect identified as "Client 9."
Federal law enforcement sources confirmed that Spitzer was the Client 9 named in the complaint. Client 9 seems to have allegedly spent about $4,300 on the services of a prostitute identified only as Kristen. He paid for her to travel: "train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time and hotel."
Kristen was allegedly described to Spitzer as " an American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds," according to the complaints.
Link | The Smoking Gun has snippets of the website (which, obviously, is down) but sadly no pic of "Kristen"
The BBC has compiled its list of the Top 25 TV Put-Downs, including classic insults by Lord Blackadder and Carla from Cheers. For example:
Edmund Blackadder - Blackadder II. To Lord Percy: "The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?"
Carla - Cheers. Cliff: "I'm ashamed God made me a man." Carla: "I don't think God's doing a lot of bragging about it either."
Statler and Waldorf - The Muppet Show. Statler: "Wake up, you old fool, you slept through the show." Waldorf: "Who's a fool? You watched it."
Arnold Rimmer - Red Dwarf. "Look, we all have something to bring to this discussion. But I think from now on the thing you should bring is silence."
Link - via Nag on the Lake
The following is reprinted from Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency
Superstition is an American tradition in which even the presidents have taken part. Sometimes, though, their superstitions have been eerily justified.
Athletes are notorious for their pre-game rituals and good luck charms. It turns out that American presidents are no different, using superstition as one way to chart the course of their administrations.
Lincoln's PrefigurationThe supernatural shaded Abraham Lincoln's White House, perhaps more than any other presidents. His wife Mary Todd had visions of their children who had died young. She conducted séances - some of which Abe attended, although he thought the mediums were hucksters – to try to communicate with them. This skepticism notwithstanding, Abe himself had dreams and visions that he took very seriously. He announced once at a Cabinet meeting when he was waiting for a report from General Sherman that he knew good news was imminent, because he had just had a recurring dream that always was a good omen for him. Lincoln's most famous dream vision is described by his friend War Lamon in a book of recollections. The dream began with Lincoln hearing the sound of crying far away. He traveled through a number of rooms in the White House searching for the source of the sound, then arrived in the East Room to find a crowd surrounding a shrouded, dead body. The body's face was covered by the shroud, making it unidentifiable. He asked one of the soldiers guarding the body who was dead. The soldier replied, “The President! He was killed by an assassin!” The dream ended there. Sadly, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth soon afterward, and the story of premonition circulated far and wide.McKinley's CarnationWilliam McKinley made a habit of wearing a red carnation in his lapel for luck. Occasionally, when he wanted to share the luck with others, he would give it away. For example, if someone asked him for a favor he couldn't grant, he would offer the carnation as a consolation prize. Once when two boys were visiting him in the White House, he gave one boy the carnation from his lapel, then he shrewdly took another out of a vase to put into his lapel for a while before giving that one to the other boy so his blossom would be lucky too. McKinley's assassination (Credit: Library of Congress) When visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, in 1901, McKinley only had a short period scheduled for meeting, greeting, and shaking hands. At one point he gave his lucky red carnation to a young girl in the receiving line. Now without his good luck charm, McKinley was approached by a man with a bandage over his right hand. The man was Leon Czolgosz, and the bandage was hiding a gun. Czolgosz fired two shots at McKinley, and McKinley died eight days later.Roosevelt's Numbers GameSuperstition also figured in the day-to-day life of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He strongly believed that it was bad luck to light three cigarettes with one match. Once a young man tutoring some of the Roosevelt children at their Hyde Park home received a warning from Roosevelt for doing this. When he did it again at lunch, Roosevelt laid into him, in what his lifelong secretary called, “one of the few occasions I know of when the President actually reprimanded someone brusquely in public.” Roosevelt had an acute case of triskaidekaphobia, or fear of the number 13. He would invite his secretary to come to dinner with him if there were otherwise going to be 13 guests present at the function. If his party was going to travel on the 13th of the month, he would reschedule the departure for 11:50 p.m. on the 12th or 12:10 a.m. on the 14th. He avoided the date even in death, passing away in April 1945, on the afternoon of Thursday the 12th.The Truth is Out There, Says CarterUFOs are the kind of thing the government usually gets accused of covering up. Contrary to the stereotype, Jimmy Carter publicized his UFO sighting, which occurred when he was a fledgling politician in Georgia in 1969. Carter was standing outside with several other members of a Lions Club chapter in Leary, Georgia, before a meeting where he was scheduled to speak. Then, according to Carter's report, the group saw an object in the sky that was as bright as the moon; changed color from blue to red; and moved toward and away from the observers twice. During his presidential campaign Carter promised, after having a personal experience with UFOs, to open any existing government UFO files if he were elected. Most of those who have researched Carter's sighting have figured that he probably saw the planet Venus, which was particularly bright in the evening on the night in question (the date of which was definitely established by finding the record of his speech in the Lions Club archives). Some of the Lions who were there with him reported that it could have been Venus. Carter never did release any government UFO files, which sounds like the making of a good episode of The X-Files.The Reagans See StarsRonald and Nancy Reagan (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration) In May 1988, former White House chief of staff Donald Regan published his book For the Record, in which he revealed that one of his tasks for President Ronald Reagan was to integrate his schedule with the advisements of an astrologer, whose reports came through First Lady Nancy Reagan. The astrologer, Joan Quigley, credited her work for President Reagan's surviving until the end of his second term and thwarting the 148-year curse by which the presidents elected in 1840, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, and 1960 had died in office. Joan Quigley Photo: history.andiego.edu She also claimed to have almost total control over the timing of important public events. For example, after Congress nixed two of Reagan's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, Quigley advised that his third candidate, Anthony Kennedy, be nominated as precisely 11:32:25 a.m. On November 11, 1987. (Kennedy was confirmed 97-0). Coincidence? You be the judge. Quigley had been introduced to Nancy by talk show host Merv Griffin in 1973, and she stayed in sporadic contact with Mrs. Reagan for a number of years, with a spike during the 1980 presidential election. Then, after John Hinckley Jr.'s attempted assassination of Reagan, Nancy hired Quigley in May 1981 to be the Reagans' full-time astrologer after Quigley said she could have foreseen the assassination attempt had she been studying Ronald Reagan's chart. Nancy asked Quigley if she would waive her fee, but Quigley refused because, as she said, “People tend not to value advice they don't have to pay for.” |
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| The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into the Presidency. This book is jam-packed with everything you could ever want to know about the highest office in the United States ... you'll find the slogans and smears, the legends and lore, the people and places, and the digs and the dirt - everything about the U.S. Presidency bound up in one book. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute | |
This peculiar chair, called the An Lena chair, was created by Simone Harbert as part of a student exhibition at the Burg Giebichenstein College of Art and Design in Germany.
The piece was a commentary on parasitism, as it supported itself from gripping two surfaces: the floor and the wall (I know, I know, I didn't understand it either - anyhoo, the student expo is about Parasites & Hybrids).
But the bigger question is, without looking at Simone's website, would you say that the chair will be able to support your body? Or would you fall flat on your butt if you try to sit on it?
http://www.burg-halle.de/%7Ehybrid/parahytharbert.html - via MoCo Loco
A new camera system is being tested to catch car pool (car-sharing) lane in Leeds, UK. Before, the police used labor-intensive and ordinary CCTV that could be fooled by dogs or inflatable dolls.
The new camera promises to be better: it counts people by detecting the blood and water content of the human skin!
The camera instantly illuminates the windscreen area with two different wavelengths of infrared light. Two specialised digital infrared pictures are taken of the windscreen.
The system is programmed to detect the blood and water levels in skin and then it uses certain algorithms to distinguish faces, as opposed to hands.
Within a fraction of a second, the vehicle occupancy count is determined using on-board electronics.
Link - via Jasonspage
Ladies and gentlemen, behold the very definition of ghetto chic: the '89 Oldsmobile Cutlass Siera Louis Vuitton Limited Edition, decorated and driven by Steve LaNasa:
this is my car. It all started when the hippie who lived in the apartment behind my house lost his car. As in misplaced. When the cops showed up three weeks later to inform him that it was parked on the next block over, he graciously sold it to me for the low, low price of 250 bucks, having bought a new car in the interim. I promptly scraped off the 800 bumper stickers and went to work. First, I took it to Earl Scheib and had it given a heavy coat of "Chocolate Glitter." Then I painted the trim, wheel holes, the dash, steering wheel, and all the other interior with a heavy coat of gold enamel. After that, I spent a week in the garage stenciling the logos on with gold spray paint and gold leaf. A quick top-coat at Earl's and I was good to go. So far, it's been a really bad influence on me...whenever people take my picture in it, I just can't seen to keep my finger out of my nose. And when folks pull up next to me at the stoplight and start revving their engines, I just want to floor it. And sometimes I do.
http://www.stevelanasa.com/2006/03/1989-oldsmobile-cutlass-siera-louis.html - via growabrain
The Bic ballpoint pen was invented by Frenchman Marcel Bich in 1950.
He dropped the "h" from Bich because he feared that people would call it the Bitch pen. Technically, it's name is the BIC CRISTAL.
Each Bic pen has enough ink for up to 2 miles (3.2 km) of writing. If you accidentally get its ink on clothing, just use alcohol-based hairspray to dissolve it.
Bic pen is incredibly useful. Besides writing, it can be used to unlock a Krytonite bike lock, make a chandelier and a weapon for intra-office warfare, as well as to perform an emergency tracheotomy (as Hawkeye did in M*A*S*H).
In 2005, BIC announced that it has sold its 100 billionth pen.
Ooh la la! Dalila Ayoun, a professor in French Linguistic, found that native French speakers can't agree on the genders of French nouns:
Fifty-six native French speakers, asked to assign the gender of 93 masculine words, uniformly agreed on only 17 of them. Asked to assign the gender of 50 feminine words, they uniformly agreed only 1 of them. Some of the words had been anecdotally identified as tricky cases, but others were plain old common nouns.
Link (Photo: Cyril Plapied [Flickr]) - via Gadling
An investigation by the Associated Press has found the presence of a vast array of pharmaceuticals, from antibiotics to anticonvulsants to sex hormones (albeit at a very low concentration) in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas in the USA:
Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed.
How do the drugs get into the water?
People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.
And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.
In the early 1990s, to keep people waiting in line to play poker happy, Los Angeles' Commerce Casino had a brilliant idea: put pinball machines in the waiting room!
In a room full of gamblers, naturally it wasn't long that people began betting on pinball games. Here's a fascinating story at Kuro5hin about how a guy who made a lot of money playing (and betting on) pinball:
That day, I took in over $20,000, starting with just $2,000 in my pocket. I started making simple prop bets for $100 and $200, and soon I became more aggressive. I was astounded at how easily these guys would take bets - even things they knew couldn't possibly be in their favor! It was as if they were gambling, pulling the handle of the slot machine, and that they didn't have any expectation to win.
Within a week, I had built my bankroll up to $50,000. I was playing pinball 10 hours per day and I wasn't the least bit fatigued. It seemed I rarely lost a prop bet (like all gamblers, I kept professional records, of course, but I have been unable to find them. I imagine I enjoyed a 20% edge over most players though).
That week, I took 5 days off and celebrated my successes with a trip to San Fransisco. I was living like a king, drinking $1,000 champagne in an equally expensive hotel room. I had no reason to believe anything would change in the future, and I looked to be a millionaire in no time.
But turned out it wasn't that easy: Link
It's not often that we get really excited about a product release from Microsoft, but this one is cool (so cool it made tech blogger Robert Scoble cry!):
Here's Harvard astrophysicist Roy Gould speaking at TED introducing the WorldWide Telescope, created by Microsoft's Visual Experience Engine that enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky:
The WorldWide Telescope takes the best images from the world's greatest telescopes on earth and in space and has woven them seamlessly to produce a holistic view of the universe. It's going to change the way we do astronomy. It's going to change the way we teach astronomy. Most importantly it's going to change the way we see ourselves in the universe.
Hit play or go to Link [VideoEgg at TED] | WorldWide Telescope website - via Tech Rivet
To prepare for the Olympic Games, China has mounted an aggressive campaign to rid Beijing from ... cats!
The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help clear the streets of them.
Cat owners, terrified by the disease warning, are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up by special collection teams.
Paranoia is so intense that six stray cats -including two pregnant females - were beaten to death with sticks by teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, who feared they might pass illnesses to the children.
China's leaders are convinced that animals pose a serious urban health risk and may have contributed to the outbreak of SARS - a deadly respiratory virus - in 2003.
But the crackdown on cats is seen by animal campaigners as just one of a number of extreme measures being taken by communist leaders to ensure that its capital appears clean, green and welcoming during the Olympics.
The cats are then taken to what animal activists are describing as "death camps" on the edge of Beijing: Link
