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More strange/funny stuff at this site.
Three severed right feet have washed ashore on the Gulf Islands in the past six months, in what police say is one of the most bizarre cases in recent memory. The latest foot, still in its sneaker, was found last Friday on Valdes Island, a small community near Nanaimo that does not have regular ferry service and is accessible only by private boat or float plane. RCMP say they’re not sure whether foul play is involved and are trying to match any missing-person cases to the severed foot. Two other right feet, both in size 12 men’s sneakers, washed ashore on Gabriola and Jedediah islands last August. RCMP collected DNA from the grisly remains but could not match them to anyone in police databases. The three islands are within 60 kilometres of each other.
“It is unusual,” said RCMP spokeswoman Const. Annie Linteau. “We are in the preliminary stages of this particular investigation, and of course we will not enter into speculation.” Although it is somewhat common to find individual body parts, Dolen said this would be “the first instance of three such similar remains being discovered” in such proximity. A body in the ocean will first sink and then, depending on the depth, float back to the surface as it becomes bloated with gas. It is common for hands, feet and the head to detach as a body decomposes, said Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist from Simon Fraser University who has submerged pigs in Saanich Inlet to study ocean decomposition. But generally, those limbs do not float, she said.
Anyone care to speculate? Someone get Mulder and Scully on the phone.
The world’s first pet cloning service is to offer animal lovers the chance to recreate their dead companions, it was announced today. South Korean company RNL Bio will work alongside scientists who created the first cloned canine. A company spokeswoman said it was already working on its first order from an American who wanted a clone of her dead pit bull. The client, Bernann McKunney, of California, was very attached to the pet because it had saved her life during an attack by another dog.
Kim Yoon said that ear tissue from the dog had been preserved at a US biotech laboratory before its death. DNA from the sample could now be used in an attempt to create a clone, she said, although the chances of success were about 25%. RNL Bio is charging customers $150,000 (£75,000) for the clones, which clients pay only after they receive their new pet. The cloning is to be carried out by Seoul National University scientists led by Dr Lee Byeong-chun, a veterinary professor. Prof Lee had worked with the disgraced stem cell scientist Dr Hwang Woo-suk, whose purported breakthroughs in the creation of human stem cells through cloning had been faked. The team’s success in cloning the world’s first dog, Snuppy, in 2005, has been confirmed. Lee was suspended from his university for three months over the stem cell scandal. He has been on trial, along with Hwang, on charges of misappropriating research funds. Today, Lee confirmed the university’s animal cloning clinic would work on the project, but he refused to elaborate. RNL Bio plans to focus on cloning not only pets, but also specially trained dogs such as those used to sniff out explosives.
The whole idea of this is just creepy to me. If it hasn’t been tried already, you just know where this will lead.
Is nanotechnology morally acceptable?
For a significant percentage of Americans, the answer is no…
“There seem to be distinct differences between the United States and countries that are key players in nanotech in Europe, in terms of attitudes toward nanotechnology,” says Scheufele…
In a sample of 1,015 adult Americans, only 29.5 percent of respondents agreed that nanotechnology was morally acceptable. In European surveys that posed identical questions about nanotechnology to people in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, significantly higher percentages of people accepted the moral validity of the technology.
The catch for Americans with strong religious convictions, Scheufele believes, is that nanotechnology, biotechnology and stem cell research are lumped together as means to enhance human qualities. In short, researchers are viewed as “playing God” when they create materials that do not occur in nature, especially where nanotechnology and biotechnology intertwine, says Scheufele…
The new study has critical implications for how experts explain the technology and its applications, Scheufele says. It means the scientific community needs to do a far better job of placing the technology in context and in understanding the attitudes of the American public.
Or Americans might also be encouraged to learn beyond the suggested limits of their Stone Age geneset.
It sounds like a “greatest Irish invention” joke, but it’s true. A Swiss company has invented an underwater car – and it’s a convertible. Costing around £750,000 to build, the Rinspeed sQuba concept car was inspired by James Bond’s The Spy Who Loved Me. The sQuba is a road-worthy car that, at the touch of a button, can transform into an amphibious vehicle. It is capable of diving to a depth of about 33 feet. When on the water, it is propelled by two propellers, while two powerful jets propel the vehicle underwater.
So, what happens when one of these implants in your brain — running Windows, of course — gets a BSOD? Oh, the humanity!
Machines ‘to match man by 2029’
Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.
Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people’s brains to make them more intelligent, said Ray Kurzweil.
The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.
“It’s really part of our civilisation,” Mr Kurzweil explained.
“But that’s not going to be an alien invasion of intelligent machines to displace us.”
On a vaguely related topic, here’s a different DIY project.
The billboards have screamed the message at motorists and pedestrians in New Jersey’s largest city for more than a year: “HELP WANTED: Stop The Killings In Newark Now!“
For the first time in more than four decades, the killings in Newark have stopped — for the last month, at least — and the billboards are coming down.
Newark marked its 33rd day Friday without an official homicide, a startling fact for a city that has averaged about two killings a week over the last few years and saw homicides spike 50 percent from 2002 to 2006.
“I said when I saw some reduction, I would begin the process of taking them down,” said Newark Teachers Union president Joseph Del Grosso, whose organization paid for the signs.
No magic bullet. A lot of good policing going on everywhere in the city. For every kind of crime. Finally.
Unexpected Sources Drive Progress of Sex Tech
What do the Marines, NASA, SWAT and aerospace have in common? Each has inspired at least one engineer to provide a new perspective — and a quality contribution — in the business of sexual pleasure.
[…]
“We were doing a lot of personal experimentation with toys and we found that they weren’t very durable,” says Peg McIlnay-Moe, an aerospace engineer who co-founded Elemental Pleasures (NSFW) with her husband Dennis. “We thought well, we’re both engineers, we’re both inventive, how can we do this differently? What if we make toys out of metal?”
[…]
The SWAT team isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind when you think about masturbation. On the other hand, they do have cool gear, and when they’re doing what they do best, who’s going to question that huge flashlight dangling from the tool belt?
[…]
Despite resistance from friends and colleagues who worried that developing sex toys would “hurt our reputation as a family,” Shubin developed what has become one of the most popular sexual devices for men: the Fleshlight. It has now sold more than a million units and comes in a number of configurations to suit various orientations, goals and preferences.
Toshiba is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony.
The move will likely put an end to a battle that has gone on for several years between consortiums led by Toshiba and Sony vying to set the standard for the next-generation DVD and compatible video equipment.
The format war, often compared to the Betamax-VHS battle in the 1980s, has confused consumers unsure of which DVD or player to buy, slowing the development what is expected to be a multibillion dollar high definition DVD industry.
Toshiba’s cause has suffered several setbacks in recent weeks including Friday’s announcement by U.S. retailing giant Wal-Mart that it would abandon the HD DVD format and only stock its shelves with Blu-ray movies.
Well, that’s the end of that.
At least, until the next leap in technology which pits two Japanese companies against each other.
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How does this work? Is it clockwise or counter? The longer you look, the more confusing it is.
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Germany’s fat cat tax dodgers are under fire from government ministers after it was revealed that possibly billions of euros had been channeled into accounts in Lichtenstein…
Officials said Friday they were investigating hundreds of cases of tax evasion, including key figures, via banks in the tiny principality wdged between Austria and Switzerland.
Press reports Saturday said up to 900 search warrants had been issued to be put into effect this weekend, concerning around 1,000 cases of alleged fraud totalling several billion euros…
The affair erupted after a prosecutor in the western city of Bochum announced that Deutsche Post head Klaus Zumwinkel was suspected of involvement in a case of tax fraud.
Zumwinkel handed in his resignation as head of Deutsche Post on Friday…
Zumwinkel also quit as head of the supervisory board of Deutsche Telekom.
The financial and political leaders of a modern Western nation exposed as greedy and corrupt. What a shock!
A district attorney who’s considered the state’s most powerful prosecutor has resigned under the weight of a scandal involving the release of dozens of pornographic, racist and political e-mails on his office computer.
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal blamed the bizarre inbox contents, which included love notes to his secretary and campaign strategizing, on a combination of drugs he had been prescribed that affected his judgment…
Rosenthal has endured a public outcry, including a street demonstration by hundreds of people, and calls from his own Republican Party officials for his resignation since a federal judge mistakenly released the e-mails as part of a lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
On Friday, the lawyer who brought the lawsuit, Lloyd Kelley, sued to have Rosenthal removed from office on grounds of misconduct, incompetence and drinking on the job.
The Texas Republican Party is so embarrassed by Rosenthal they forced him out of the GOP primary, next month. But, he refused, then, to resign saying “stupidity” isn’t a good enough reason.
Har!
LOUDOUN, Va. – A children’s book about penguins was pulled recently from general circulation at Loudoun County elementary Schools. The award-winning book, “And Tango Makes Three” tells the true story of two male Chinstrap Penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo who raised an egg together. A parent at Sugarland Elementary in Sterling raised concerns about the book within the last few months, said Wayde Byard, public information officer for Loudoun County Public Schools. The parent filed a complaint with the principal, who reviewed the book and deemed it to be appropriate for children. The parent then appealed that decision, and a district-level committee made up of a parent, a teacher, a school librarian and administrators reviewed the book. They ruled it was acceptable for general circulation.
Superintendent Edgar Hatrick III had final say, though, and decided to override that decision. “Every child might not be ready for that,” Byard said. “They might not be mature enough to deal with that subject matter.” “And Tango Makes Three,” written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson was released in 2005. In 2006 it was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book. It was also one of the most challenged books of 2006, according to the ALA. In the book, male penguins Roy and Silo team up to care for another pair’s egg. As a family, they hatch and raise a chick named Tango.
You see, its a TRUE story. We must protect our children from learning about homosexual penguins, its just not natural.
Smokers could be forced to pay £10 for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way. No one would be able to buy cigarettes without the permit, under the idea proposed by Health England. Its chairman, Professor Julian Le Grand, told BBC Radio 5 Live the scheme would make a big difference to the number of people giving up smoking. But smokers’ rights group Forest described the idea as “outrageous”, given how much tax smokers already pay.
Professor Le Grand, a former adviser to ex-PM Tony Blair, said cash raised by the proposed scheme would go to the NHS. He said it was the inconvenience of getting a permit – as much as the cost – that would deter people from persisting with the smoking habit. “You’ve got to get a form, a complex form – the government’s good at complex forms; you have got to get a photograph. “It’s a little bit of a problem to actually do it, so you have got to make a conscious decision every year to opt in to being a smoker.” Forest spokesman Simon Clark said that when the cost of administration, extra bureaucracy and enforcement are taken into account, “the mind boggles”. He added that the people most affected by the proposals would be “the elderly and people on low incomes”.
Mr Clark added: “The senior government advisor putting this idea forward is not only adding to the red tape and bureaucracy we already have in this country. “He is openly bragging that he wants to make the form as complex as possible to fill in.”
Oh yeah, this is going to work. What smoker is going to spend more money for the right to smoke? Brilliant idea.
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