March 2009
Report From the Front Lines of the Texas Evolution... →
A science textbook writer details her experience testifying during hearings on science-education standards before the Texas State Board of Education.
Investigative Journalism Being Reborn Through the... →
Combating the stigma that investigative journalism is dead or dying, the Huffington Post has just launched a new venture to bankroll a group of investigative journalists to take a look into stories…
Scavenger's Manifesto: HOWTO be an urban... →
Salon’s Katharine Mieszkowski went out foraging with the authors of The Scavengers’ Manifesto, a book that explains how to live off the fat of the city: freegan, dumpster-diving…
Boing Boing on GOOD: "DIY Funerals and the... →
Two weeks ago, I posted about people who are bringing the DIY ethic to funerals. For my latest essay over at GOOD, I thought a bit more about this concept and how it might be part of a larger quest…
German Cops Raid Home of Wikileaks, Tor Volunteer →
German police raided the homes of a German techie who helps both Wikileaks and an anonymizing web service. Wikileaks, the whistleblowing website, says the cops raided their volunteer because the site…
Komodo dragons kill man →
A man picking fruit on an island in eastern Indonesia fell out of a tree where he was then mauled to death by two Komodo dragons. From The Guardian (photo by Dezidor/Wikimedia…
New Service Aims To Replace Consoles With Cloud... →
ThinSkin writes “Imagine playing bleeding-edge games, yet never again upgrading your hardware. That’s the ambitious goal of OnLive’s Internet delivered gaming service. Using cloud computing, OnLive’s…
Mississippi Passes Law To Ban Traffic Light... →
DaGoatSpanka writes with news that Mississippi Governer Haley Barbour signed a bill into law on Friday which instituted a ban on automated cameras that would snap pictures of motorists when they ran…
US Attorney mistakes 419 letter for a submission... →
Destiny sez, “The U.S. Attorney’s office submitted e-mails they’d received from Bernie Madoff’s victims to the judge handling Madoff’s sentencing. And one of the emails that somehow ended up in the…
Virginia Slogan Fail →
Submitted by Dave L
Playground Location Fail →
Submitted by Dave B
Church Fail →
Submitted by Nikolas S
Breaking John Mayer News: Jennifer Aniston Ends... →
“This heart didn’t come with instructions,” Twittered John Mayer, after Jennifer Aniston ended their relationship over the phone. The reason for the breakup? He twittered too much. …
Rumor Mill: Is IKEA Entering the Eco-Friendly Car... →
We already know that IKEA is debuting a line of solar-powered lights; could the Swedish giant actually enter the eco-friendly car market?
The Internet is abuzz about a mysterious, yet…
Best Buy Staff Paid Bonuses to Deny Legit... →
Best Buy, like many other stores, has a public “price matching” policy. But HD Guru reports that according to internal docs, personnel are trained to deny price-matches and even paid…
Baby-Carrying Roomba is a Fun Way to Make Your Kid... →
And the father of the year award goes to Ron Tajima, who created a Rooma/baby crib hybrid that he calls the Cradloomba. A better name might be Child Services Express. [GetRobo via …
Taco Bell Typo Causes 11 Overdraft Fees [Evil] →
A Vancouver man says he was overcharged by Taco Bell — costing him hundreds of dollars in fees. The man used his debit card to buy $15 worth of Taco Bell for his family. The receipt read…
Are We All Solipsists? →
If I said that only my mind exists, and that others do not have minds or their own will, people would look at me like I am nuts. Yet people are often saying: I cannot understand how someone could…
New Ray Discovered →
This discovery was made by a team of marine scientists from the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Center and National Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Image.
Strip-Search of a Girl Is to Test Limit of School... →
A case involving the search of a thirteen-year-old will require the Supreme Court to consider how far schools can go to enforce zero-tolerance drug policies.
20 Years After Cold Fusion Debut, Another Team... →
New Scientist is reporting that twenty years to the day since the initial announcement of a cold fusion discovery another Utah-based team is trying again. This announcement is being taken a little…
Sweden Says No to Saving Saab →
The carmaker has fallen on hard times in a country where Nordic socialism has fallen out of favor.
US Attorney mistakes 419 letter for a submission... →
Destiny sez, “The U.S. Attorney’s office submitted e-mails they’d received from Bernie Madoff’s victims to the judge handling Madoff’s sentencing. And one of the emails that somehow ended up in the…
Video Projection on Homeless Man Making Him Look... →
In an effort to create awareness of the “invisible” homeless population in Dusseldorf, Germany, local filmmakers projected video of a street scene on a homeless man making him appear…
"This Is Why You're Fat" photoblog →
This Is Why You’re Fat is a photoblog of foods you really shouldn’t eat but are somehow irresistible, to someone anyway. Above, “Meat(in)loaf,” “Bacon And Fudge Danish…
Darth Vader money →
DeviantArt’s Diablo2003 whipped up these Vaderbucks for Star Wars Fan Days 2007, where he was an artist guest. Thomas, who suggested the link, says he thinks they’re cooler-looking than…
Utterly Nuts, but Sane Enough to Execute in Texas →
A court ruling for the (dark) ages:
A condemned Texas inmate who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several months ago on death row is “crazy,” yet sane under state law, a…
Twins commit perfect heist? →
DNA evidence from a multimillion-euro jewelry heist in Berlin leads to twins with a criminal record, but since the evidence could point to either one, German law says that neither can be convicted: …
Scoring Slumdog Millionaire with Logic →
“I work almost exclusively with Logic,” asserts A. R. Rahman, the Oscar-winning composer of the music for Slumdog Millionaire. In fact, he’s “been working with Logic for almost 12 years. I use it as…
Twins commit perfect heist? →
DNA evidence from a multimillion-euro jewelry heist in Berlin leads to twins with a criminal record, but since the evidence could point to either one, German law says that neither can be convicted: …
Darth Vader money →
DeviantArt’s Diablo2003 whipped up these Vaderbucks for Star Wars Fan Days 2007, where he was an artist guest. Thomas, who suggested the link, says he thinks they’re cooler-looking than…
Space-Rocker Spindrift's Top 5 Westerns,... →
Kirpatrick Thomas’ space-rock band Spindrift is playing five live shows at SXSW. So we quiz Thomas on his top five Westerns and psychedelic musical movements. For for our troubles, we’re rewarded…
Merrell Wants You To Get Outside And On The Road... →
Photo Credit: Dave Vann of Rothbury Crowd, 2008. The Black Crowes, Ani Difranco are just a couple of the myriad artists booked to perform at the Rothbury Festival in early July of 2009. Some…
Kentucky Officials "Changed Votes At Voting... →
The indispensible jamie found a report out of Kentucky of exactly the kind of shenanigans that voting-transparency advocates have been warning about: a circuit court judge, a county clerk, and…
Utterly Nuts, but Sane Enough to Execute in Texas →
A court ruling for the (dark) ages:
A condemned Texas inmate who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several months ago on death row is “crazy,” yet sane under state law, a…
Money shower brings rush hour to a halt →
Motorists stopped on freeways yesterday and scrambled to collect cash that drug suspects tossed like confetti from their pickup while leading police on a pursuit during the evening commute. Police…
"Jesus Phone 3.0" touches diabetic blogger →
During Apple’s iPhone 3.0 event, the presentation of a mobile-attached blood glucose monitor for diabetic users apparently bored some journalists in the room. However, the demonstration not only…
Google Labs adds undo to Gmail →
Google is adding the ability to undo e-mail sent via Gmail—provided you click within five seconds.
Texas Legislature Considers Open Document Formats →
An anonymous reader notes that a legislator in Texas has introduced a bill to require open document formats in all state government business. The bill is carefully worded such that only ODF could…
Overly Judgemental Internet Explorer 6 Splash... →
guest post by RICK!
Joe Leifer, at Hugs For Monsters, created confrontational and extremely funny splash pages for visitors viewing his site in Internet Explorer 6….
Pioneering pilot proved to Navy that sea could be... →
The early months of 1911 were a remarkable time in the history of aviation, particularly for pioneer flier Glenn Curtiss. By age 33, the former motorcycle racer had become America’s most accomplished…
Breach Exposes 19,000 Active US, UK Credit Cards →
pnorth writes “A defunct payment gateway has exposed as many as 19,000 credit card numbers of US and UK consumers in a major worldwide breach. The data, held in Google cache, includes credit card…
Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy... →
Officials disagree about the extent to which the attorney general’s statement that he would not authorize raids on medical marijuana dispensaries represents a policy shift.
New Musical Instruments Battle for $10K in Prizes →
: Photo: Ben Keyserling It was like a low-stakes X Prize for music as musicians, inventors and hobbyists competed against each other in the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at…
"This Is Why You're Fat" photoblog →
This Is Why You’re Fat is a photoblog of foods you really shouldn’t eat but are somehow irresistible, to someone anyway. Above, “Meat(in)loaf,” “Bacon And Fudge Danish…
Police Fail →
Police have other hobbies too.
Submitted by Clarence T
Bill Payment Win →
Originally by XKCD
Pope: Condoms Make AIDS Worse →
On his first trip to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI said that AIDS “is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even…
Ron Paul Foils Sex-Tape Plot →
In Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming movie Bruno, he tries — and fails — to seduce former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul in a Washington hotel room. A spokeswoman for Paul confirmed the…
John Hammond and Bonnie Bramlett Jam with the... →
The Allman Brothers Band opened its second week (http://allmanbrothersband.com/)
at the Beacon last night by inviting some of Duane Allman’s former
collaborators to the stage. After kicking off its…