Ready or not: It's the Taser Gernade

We all know about the Taser: the good, the bad, the ugly. It's a good weapon when used when and how it should be used, but a spate of deaths related to its use, show that it can be misused as well. Now there is a new Taser product packaged as a gernade. The 50,000 volt projectile can incapacitate at distances of up to 900 feet. Quite impressive. Watch as The Daily's Justin Rocket Silverman becomes the first civilian to get hit with the Taser Gernade.

MUST SEE: "Just the Way You Are" played on invisible instruments

This cover of "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, performed by Tim Soo on the Invisible Instrument is incredible. Soo: “Originally, I built an extremely simple ‘invisible violin’ in part because I left my violin back at home and needed to perform a short composition for an intro music theory class,” he says. “I thought it’d make for an easy grade. The concept, however, took hold.” Read more on Mashable.

Remarkable video of skyscrapers in Japan swaying during earthquake

This home video is a testimonial to Japanese engineering –– at least when it comes to building construction (we'll leave out the nuclear plant design/construction for the moment). The fact that these buildings can withstand the amount of movement is incredible. Unfortunately, there's no information on where in Japan this is, which would be very interesting to know.

Charlie Sheen posts his video - sadder and crazier than ever

Exactly why Charlie Sheen would make this video is something I'll let you figure out. He's been retweeting comments on it this morning, but after watching it, I have to say it's just sad, sad, sad.

"RT @RDisher This @charliesheen video made me laugh harder than the whole 8th season of 2.5 men After the flameout in the motor city on Saturday night, perhaps this was supposed to give him a boost, but it just keeps on going in the wrong direction for Charlie – straight down."

Have a watch of the video and see for yourself.

Scientists break a law of nature – very briefly

Particle paths after gold ion collision

For a very, very brief instant, scientists at Brook­haven National Laboratory on Long Island recently discovered a law of nature had been broken. Sounds a bit like a detective thriller at this point. The law of physics that had been violated is called "parity", which in simple terms means all things are equal; the universe is neither right or left handed.

The scientists created a quark-gluon plasma — a kind of "soup" that results when energies reach high enough levels to break up protons and neutrons into their constituent quarks and gluons, the fundamental building blocks of matter. The plasma was created by accelerating gold nuclei to 99.999% of the speed of light and smashing them together. Theorists believe this plasma, which has a temperature of four trillion degrees Celsius, existed just after the Big Bang, when the universe was only a microsecond old. The plasma "bubble" created by the scientist lasted for a mere millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second.

Have I lost you yet? A little more ..... The break in parity was detected by the way particles, quarks in particular, traveled along the huge magnetic field produced by the plasma — the strongest ever created.

"If the effect proves to be real, it could help scientists understand a similar asymmetry that led to one of physics' most fundamental mysteries — namely, why the universe is dominated by ordinary matter today when equal amounts of matter and antimatter were created by the Big Bang,"  concludes the Yale University press release.

Jesus Christ face appears in a cheese pizza

There's been bedsheets, waffles, walls and shrouds, all said to be bearing the face of Jesus. Now from down under, comes the pizza with Jesus' face in cheese. The face appeared in a three-cheese pizza made at Posh Pizza in New Farm, Brisbane. The pizza was listed for sale on eBay, with proceeds going to charity. (Too late if you were thinking of bidding, the auction has closed.)

Posh Pizza's Maree Phelan said "I can definitely say this isn't a fake, the three-cheese pizza always comes out with very different colours.'' The owners said the pizza has already brought good luck to them. "After discovering it, the owner of the store parked in a loading zone and didn't get a parking ticket,'' they wrote on eBay.

I'm actually pretty sure that's an image of George Harrison in that pizza.

God-man' s supernatural powers exposed in video

This is an Indian God-man. He can create water from air and draw evil spirits from people into coconuts. Or can he? Watch this video to the end to find out.

April 3 – the 38th anniversary of the first cell phone call

Wikimedia Commons

April 3, 1973 should be marked at a national – make that international – holiday. It was on this day that Martin Cooper, now 82, made the first public cell phone call. That first cell phone was so big that it was often described as resembling a shoe, or a brick, weighing 2½ pounds.

Standing on Sixth Avenue in New York City, Cooper made a phone call from a prototype handheld cellular phone before going to a press conference upstairs in the hotel. The phone connected Cooper with the base station on the roof of the Burlington House (now the Alliance Capital Building) across the street from the hotel and into the AT&T land-line telephone system.  As reporters and passers-by watched, he dialed the number and held the phone to his ear and made a call to to Dr. Joel S. Engel, head of research at Bell Labs. 


"As I walked down the street while talking on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call."

There had been forms of mobile phones before that time, but they were essentially radios, powered by heavy duty components hidden in the car trunk. Cooper was the general manager of Motorola's communications systems division, and believed that people wanted to be able to use the telephone as a mobile device and not be tethered to a wire.

"People want to talk to other people -- not a house, or an office, or a car. Given a choice, people will demand the freedom to communicate wherever they are, unfettered by the infamous copper wire."

Cooper was certainly a visionary, who we can either thank or curse, depending on your viewpoint. A big thank-you Martin Cooper from the Cry Baby.

Charlie Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" show bombs in Detroit

Not that I was expecting a whole lot from Charlie Sheen's wacko tour, but the reviews seem even worse that expected. The show opened in Detroit and here's a sample of the reviews by BuzzFeed:

• Linda Fugate, 47, of the Detroit suburb of Lincoln Park, left the theater and walked up the street yelling, “I want my money back! “I was hoping for something. I didnt think it would be this bad.”
• “Brutal. I expected him to at least entertain a little bit. It was just a bunch of ranting.” - Rodney Gagnon, 34, of Windsor, Ontario.
• Attendee Chris Acchione, a self-described Sheen fan who traveled all the way from Toronto for the show, says his entire mezzanine row walked out. He's making a fool of himself, he says. Is there a bigger loser in the world? He'll be begging Chuck Lorre for his job back by the end of the week.
* “He was babbling on and on until I wanted to throw up in my seat.”
• Bob Orlowski said he brought six clients to Saturday's performance, thinking it would be an event, but instead witnessed a train wreck. One of his clients said Sheen's performance replaced a Milli Vanilli concert as the worst show he'd ever seen. Now he feels good about Milli Vanilli.
* Tina Mighion, Sterling Heights, MI: “It was the worst thing Ive ever seen in my entire life.”

A roundup of some unfortunate headlines

The history of the world in 100 seconds

Have a look at this 100 second video produced by Gareth Lloyd and Tom Martin. It shows the location and dates of 14,238 historical events between 499 B.C. and 2011 A.D., as recorded by Wikipedia, using only the entries that had geotagging information. From Lloyd's blog:

A static map version on the dataset

"The 'spotlight' is an overlay on the video that tries to keep about 90% of the datapoints within the bright area. It takes a moving average of all the latitudes and longitudes over the past 50 or so years and centres on the mean coordinate. I love the way it opens up, first resembling medieval maps of "The World" which included only Europe and some of Asia, then encompassing "The New World" and finally resembling a modern map."

This is obviously a very Eurocentric, and there are some large gaps in the dataset, but it's very interesting non-the-less.Watch it to the end to get the full effect.


A History of the World in 100 Seconds from Gareth Lloyd on Vimeo.

Dentist receives package of 31 pounds of marijuana in error

warrantedarrest / Flickr

New York dentist Dr. Richard Lyons received a mystery UPS package n Friday. When he opened the package, he was stunned to find it packed with 31 pounds of marijuana. Lyons, 61, told the New York Daily News:

"I was shocked - shocked! And annoyed," he said. "Even if I got an ounce of marijuana, I would have notified the police. It's not legal. I didn't buy it!" He immediately called the police, but after an hour of waiting, he got nervous that the rightful owners might show up to claim the pot and called the press.

The box had a return address for a "Gwendaline Lyons in Katy, Texas." The Daily News reports no such listing could be found.

Conspiracy theories say government using microwaves to scramble televsion presenters' brains

I have to say right off that it is odd to see so many recent cases of people on television suddenly speaking in tongues. It started off with reporter Serene Branson's live Grammy coverage that suddenly turned into garbled nonsense. It turned out Branson had suffered an acute migraine attack which affected her speech.

The latest victim is that famous juror, Judge Judy. The judge, aka Judith Sheindlin, was taken to hospital on Wednesday after she began speaking gibberish during a live recording of her courtroom TV show. The judge has been released from the hospital, but no cause for the incident was found, according to her spokesperson.




Here are couple of other recent lapses into nonsensical speech:

• Global Toronto News reporter Mark McAllister saying on air that the Canadian defence minister had confirmed that "more than sifty four 18 fighter jets are spending about as much as 20 and ready to assist 600 hundred, hundred deployed over the an-amount needed." The cause of the speech problem was reported to have been a migraine.

• Sarah Carlson of WISC-TV in Wisconsin started her report on Wisconsin’s challenge to Barack Obama’s health care reforms, doing fine, but it soon was having trouble forming words and the camera switched to a startled co-presenter.

So why this crazy conspiracy theory of the U.S. military beaming microwaves into North American television presenters heads? Only the wackos can tell you.

Funny animation of the USC Rooftop Sex Scandal

This is old news, but maybe you missed hearing (or seeing)  about the rooftop sex scandal USC.  The student's tryst on top of a USC building swept the Internet earlier this week after another student photographed the couple's antics and posted them online. The male student is now in hiding. Who can blame him. If you are truly interested, you can see the actual photos here.

Have a look at this funny animation of the event by Taiwanese animation team NMW. Look up in the sky: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's .....

Classic April Fools Day joke - Panorama - April Fool's Day Hoax - Spaghetti Harvest of 1957

I actually remember seeing this on late night TV as a kid, way back when. It fooled a lot of very stupid people.  From YouTube user aptsarchive:

"On April 1, 1957 the British television programme Panorama broadcast a three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually mild winter and to the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil. The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the shows highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that, For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response. Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC diplomatically replied, Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

New Gmail motion: Control mail with your body

From Google:

"The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed," Google writes. "Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion -- now you can control Gmail with your body."

How does it work? "Gmail Motion uses your computer's built-in webcam and Google's patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands. Movements are designed to be simple and intuitive for people of all skill levels," says Google."

Starbucks releases "Mobile Pour" App

From the Starbuck's press release:

"We've all been there. You’re walking down the sidewalk with a huge craving for Starbucks coffee with no time to find a location and buy one (no "there’s a Starbucks on every corner" jokes, please).
What if the solution was as easy as whipping out your smartphone to have one delivered to you without missing a step? Well now it is that easy, inspired by your ideas on MyStarbucksIdea.com we’re proud to introduce the exciting new Starbucks® Mobile Pour service that puts baristas on scooters. In seven of the largest cities around the country, we’re sending out two scooter baristas per every square mile to ensure speedy service.
We've even made ordering easy with our Mobile Pour app for your smartphone. Simply download it, allow it to pinpoint your location, select your coffee order and keep walking. Your fresh, hot Starbucks brew will be in your hands before you can say abra-arabica.

Click on picture to activate the demo

What's more, the Starbucks® Mobile Pour is only the first exciting development of our new mobile replenishment strategy. In the coming months we'll be introducing several other exciting (can you say "mall" and "rollerblades") initiatives that make getting your Starbucks coffee easier than ever."

The date of the release. April 1, 2011. Chalk it up to April Fools!

One man's look at redesigning the Mexico/USA border wall

Ron Rael, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks the 700 mile border Mexico/USA border wall is bad idea and inhumane, but has turned his talents on how to make a bad thing better. What he has done is come up with some unique designs for it.
From www.fastcodesign.com:

"To that end, he has re-envisioned the wall as something like a town center, complete with infrastructure, social services, and recreational facilities. Among the stations he envisions along the wall are a volleyball court, a confessional, a lending library, a water catchment system, a wastewater treatment plant, a solar farm, and even a "burrito wall" featuring "a food cart inserted into the wall, allowing people from each side of the border to share a meal, chat and conduct business, all within full view of security." The designs are partly practical, partly satirical: call it ironic architecture."  Read more here ....

Big Brother is tracking you – by your cellphone

We've all seen the TV thrillers as the good guys, and sometimes the bad guys, track the perp or the hero by there cellphone use. Well, in Germany, one politician put this to the test. Politician Malte Spitz sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom hand over all over his phone data for six months. He turned the data over to German paper ZEIT,  who combined his geolocation data with other online information, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites.

ZEIT created this interactive graphic which takes you on a trip through the six months of Malte Spitz's life. Click on the graphic to go to ZEIT and the interactive graphic. You are being watched!

Video: "Full-immersion video" of Libya war

Photojournalist Danfung Dennis pushes the boundaries of photojournalism with his system he called "Condition ONE". Seeking to create an experience resembling virtual reality, Dennis teamed up with photojournalist Patrick Chauvel in Libya and produced this intense video. Read more about Dennis system on FastCoDesign.

"Through our work we hope to shake people from their indifference to war, and to bridge the disconnect between the realities on the ground and the public consciousness at home," Dennis told DSLR News Shooter.


My Freedom Or Death - Condition ONE Beta from Danfung Dennis on Vimeo.