Bizarre Airport Pranks

same sort of things you'll hear/see on SNL, Conan, or the other late-night comedy shows, except that they actually taped people saying these ridiculous names over the loudspeakers...very bizarre.

The Dangers of Outsourcing Child Care

Hahaha, oh outsourcing...

Onion Network News clips

It's like the news. Except better.

Two Smooth Operators (or is it "too smooth"?)

This is a video documentary of my rugby boys out at the bar. Except imagine more punching and ass-slapping.

Oooooo, Government Coverups!

Well, actually it *is* a little bit disturbing, despite the silly images conjured by such a phrase. Apparently NASA has been withholding information regarding a safety study of air flight, and then actually told people that the reason they didn’t release it was that it would affect consumer confidence and bankrupt the airlines. Crazy stuff…

The crazy thing is that I can actually understand and sympathize with such a decision, despite the fact that I am indignant about having been lied to. A serious shake-up of the airline industry would result in a shorter-term collapse of air travel volume, although I think the long-term effects would be an emergence of new, more streamlined companies (think JetBlue and Southwest and Ted) from the ashes (and more importantly from the bankruptcy-borne capital assets from the dying behemoth airlines). This would seem to suggest a long-term benefit, although the consequences of the disruption in air travel in the interim would doubtless have some far-reaching consequences that may very well outweigh the benefits of allowing the industry to collapse and rejuvenate.

 

Fact Checking Unit

Amusing take on the SVU/CSI-style crime drama...except with Fact Checkers instead of something interesting. But amusing. With Bill Murray playing an amusing part as well...

Girls Are Evil

Mother's Journey (photo)

This is totally f***ed. Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for photography, this 21-photo cycle depicts a mother and her terminally ill child on a progression as the child gets worse and eventually dies. Moving, but a few of the pictures are the kind that make you want to skip over quickly because they make you uncomfortable. Well, for me anyway. Take a look.

Instant Pollock

More amusement in the self-created-modern-art department...

Governments Explained

http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/politics.html

Green Speedsters

Wired has an interesting article talking about alternative-fueled fast cars. Pretty interesting collection overall, although this one has definitely caught my interest...

Newest Toy Recall?

hah. Minor amusement.
http://pranks.com/2007/10/10/newest-toy-recall-from-china/

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Like velcro, Tang, and carbon fiber before it, these crazy spin-offs from the space program and military industrial complex have far-reaching effects in government, military, and civilian/commercial applications. I just can't wait for the hip hop artists to start wearing pieces of it...

Evolution vs Religion

You know, with all the anger and conflict involved in the evolution vs intelligent design battle, it’s refreshing to see someone step outside the battle lines a little bit with a fascinating take on the difficulty many people have with accepting the concept of evolution.

And besides that, it’s a fascinating article in other respects, of purely mathematical and statistical interest…

Robot Warriors

I dunno, this kind of development is basically inevitable given the money available to the military-industrial complex; but that doesn’t mean that we should feel comfortable with it. I mean, especially when there are plenty of instances of automated systems going “crazy” and uncontrollably firing.

 

Of course, none of this is helped by the Terminator movies, the horrible Will-Smith version of “I, Robot”, or whatever robot-killing-spree movie is next on the docket. And it’s not like humans don’t have enough murderous urges to eclipse these robots’ minor damages. But the reality is that humans (for better or worse) are not going to be curbing these killing urges any time soon, and the robot weapons are a more emotionally removed method of killing by proxy, thereby further reducing the emotional impact of murder. As usual, there’s no real good answer for a way forward; the best we can hope for is that we as individuals put our shoulders behind the legislative force of self-improvement and do a little nation-building here in North America before we involve ourselves in every other country’s business…

Nuclear Beirut: The Cold War Continues

Ahhhh yes. Russia. USA. Cold Beer. Cold WAR.

it's all part of the magic.

NExt-Generation Wind Power

I love seeing developments like this, because it just shows what can be done by allowing your mind to free itself from constraints of traditional thinking. Although I’m sure there are a lot of kinks to be worked out, you have to give credit where credit’s due…it’s a fascinating tech

Dell = Porno

Brian, I'm pretty much looking at you, here. And vaibhav, for the squirrel porno.

Zombies Hate Our Freedom

Well what can I say. Is it that I love the stupidity of zombie movies? That I hate everything about Bush? Or is it my laughter covering my fear, because I could *almost* picture him saying something like this...

Hit It With Your Bible!

If only this was funny pure funny, instead of the laughter of discomfort, because it's so close to reality...

Daylight Exacerbates Global Warming

Come on. Just read it.

Admiral Bowman Interview

ADM Bowman was the head of the Navy Nuclear Power program for a number of years (including when I interviewed for acceptance…with him), and has since retired and taken on the role as CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). This interview with him covers a few of the touchy subjects regarding Commercial Nuclear Power in the US (although is by no means adversarial) and provide some insight in to the current state of the Nuclear Industry.

Tequila-Vision!

ahhhhh, classic. I'm not gonna lie, the entire town of Newport, RI may at one point have known me as Tequila-Ben. I'd rather not discuss it, but this site may help explain some portion of it .

SimCity- sponsored by British Petroleum?

Well…I’ll admit that I’m fascinated. Interested. Curious, even. The outcome of this game could very easily spell a paradigm shift in the way that corporations interact with entertainment media. Instead of simply applying the advertising model in different environments, they’re actually shaping the game in much more subtle ways. Very interesting…

Now I’m actually pretty positive on BP in general, since they’ve put so much effort into the alternative energy disciplines. But they are nonetheless a huge petroleum company, with a definite vested interest in prolonging the oil-based economy. So I will play this game. And I will try to divine the real measure of propaganda and reality that are being doled out through the consultancy role of BP.

To be continued…

Fire ...Baaaad!

Bullshit Job Title Generator

Classic piece on the stupid job titles that get generated for the most mundane distinctions between bullshit jobs (thanks, vinay).
I was happily hitting the "generate" button and laughing at the titles until I realized that it was only a matter of time before i started seeing titles that I recognized...let alone mine. Happiness turned to disorder, and i slipped into the bowels of a red nightmare. It was only a few hours before I had succumbed to beating my coworkers with a bolo made of three computer mice. The social fabric of the office broke down into violent anarchy, reducing years of bureaucracy and tradition in torrents of flame and derision. As I watched explosive shards from the exploding coffee pot-bombs embed themselves in the wall behind my desk, I stopped to ponder why I had felt it necessary to poke at our fragile strands of social structure, prompting its subsequent collapse and the elevation of animal instinct to absolute necessity...

Space Habitat

Interesting article on an Australian proposal supposed to yield a 90% efficient closed-cycle habitat for astronauts. Nothing too crazy, most of it building on what appears to be incremental improvements of technologies and practices already available; but the combination of that skill-set into a working habitat is entirely a different thing, so I’m very curious to see how it goes. With that level of efficiency, it’s almost to suggest we could actually make semi-permanent bases on the moon and/or mars practicable.

I think it’s a great idea…

History of the Drunk Dial

Ahhhh, classic. And who *hasn't* been caught with the embarrassing and awkward silence of the opposite end of the phone, ending with "...have you been drinking?"
what answer would even work at that point? It's pretty much rhetorical. Stupid telephones...

Ig Nobel Awards: A Real Gay Bomb

Yeah. A gay bomb. Let’s hear it for the Air Force…

So the Ig Nobel Awards are great, and I feel like scientists should always have a little bit of a sense of humor about their work, especially if it involves rats on Viagra, or the mathematics of a wrinkled bedsheet….

Damn the Mathematics, Full Speed Ahead!

<sigh>
Having found this website, I will probably never leave the interweb.

Startships...

Dan, this is all you, man

you've probably already seen it, but damn...

http://www.merzo.net/

Safety Now!

Sort of like the time-tested mantra of "serenity now", this handy site distributes helpful hints for things like radiation, nuclear attack, building collapse, farts, and the time-space vortex.
See for yourself!

Man, I wish they had had that site when I was younger...

Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention

Yes. I too thought Jurassic Park was cheesy and ridiculous. Yes, I liked the book better, even though it was written basically as a vehicle for a screenplay (I consider this kind of sad, especially considering Crichton's actually written some interesting stuff). And yes, I will still watch the movie, because it has HUGE F-ING DINOSAURS.
Protect yourself, fool.

OK seriously. But this one is *ridiculous*

Yeah I know I know, i've been posting almost exclusively from this webcomic for like three days. But this one is reeeeally funny. Seriously. Or have I just not been sleeping enough recently...I'm not an addict.

The Essence of Valentine's Day

ahhhhhahaha.
I'm laughing. But it's a nervous laugh...and I keep checking behind me. Because if you're not careful, this kind of thing will totally get you slapped.