Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Goat]

WHAT THE FUCK. Is this true? O_O
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...ree112.xml

[maitreya]

Yahoo!'s 2007 Top Ten Send-offs

Banished words list

Weird Sports

[Sforza]

Dog does Dick Cheney: a Dog steps on gun, kills hunter. (Reuters)

Meet the probable dumbest criminal of 2008. (BBC)

One person dead again during the Feast of the Black Nazarene. There have been reports of someone dying as long as I can remember. It's sad that I always have to hear of someone dying on my birthday.

Publishers Weekly interviews Kio Shimoku, creator of Genshiken about his work, and otaku culture.

Lastly, did you guys know that this year's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is ongoing in Vegas? The NY Times bits blog has been covering it. Here are a few interesting articles:

- Samsung President has trouble getting his own company's gear to work for him.

- GM showcases a zero-emission car powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

- Sony says it won't be late again (to take risks in developing up and coming electronics). Remember they got beaten by the ipod, and the Wii last year. This year they're apparently going to concentrate on OLED TV development.

[Twin-Skies]

Man sees 'mark,' cuts off hand

HAYDEN, Idaho (AP) -- A man who believed he bore the biblical "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.

The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.

"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."

It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."

The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for you whole body to do into hell."

[NiX]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080109/od_...0109125906

A Japanese Police station has been receiving monthly donations from an anonymous donor since 1974. The donor only requests that the money be given to the poor. Wow that article almost put a tear on my eye.

[NiX]

BBC News:

100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year (So the claim)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonit...st_3.shtml

[Serene]

34. Kryptonite exists.

Well Duh~ IT IS in the periodic table of elements isn't it?

[Sforza]

Details of occult sex murder revealed - La Blue Girl in real life

[NiX]

http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9849949...7-1_3-0-20

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

Talk about placebo effects hahah

[Grim]

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

I knew it! Of course I don't have evidence to show that I thought of this before, but I did. Somehow I knew people attributed a certain importance to price, even when it was on their food/drink. I just didn't know how to prove it.

Nice.

[Twin-Skies]

Conservative Blogger Claims Mass Effect Offers “Customizable Sodomy”

*facepalm*

Btw, I'm Twin-Skies there too in the comments.

[clonezero]

I think its more about them hoping and wishing there money was worth it and therefore urge their taste buds to like it XD

dalas mangyari to samin ( well more of my mom than the whole family) ~sayang yan mahal pa naman ~ aah the memories ...

[Twin-Skies]

Superheroes in Real Life

Geist's breath fogs the winter air as he surveys the frozen Minneapolis skyline, searching for signs of trouble. His long duster flaps in the breeze as his eyes flick behind reflective sunglasses; a wide-brim hat and green iridescent mask shroud his identity from those who might wish him harm.

Should a villain attack, the Emerald Enforcer carries a small arsenal to defend himself: smoke grenades, pepper spray, a slingshot, and a pair of six-inch fighting sticks tucked into sturdy leather boots. Leather guards protect Geist's arms; his signature weapon, an Argentinean cattle-snare called bolos, hangs from a belt-holster.

A mission awaits and time is of the essence, so Geist eases his solid frame, honed from martial arts training, into his trusty patrol vehicle—a salt-covered beige sedan. Unfamiliar with the transportation tangle of downtown, he pulls a MapQuest printout from his pocket, discovering his goal is but a short cruise down Washington Avenue.

Soon Geist faces his first obstacle: parking on the left side of a one-way street. "Usually one of my superpowers is parallel parking," he chuckles as he eases his car into the spot, emerging victorious with a foot and a half between curb and tire. He feeds a gauntleted fistful of quarters into the parking meter, and then pops the trunk on the Geistmobile to retrieve his precious cargo. On the street, he encounters businesspeople on lunch break—some stare openly; others don't even notice his garish attire. "It's easier in winter," Geist says with a laugh. "Winter in Minnesota, everybody's dressed weird."

[Sforza]

Church of Scientology threatens Gawker Media (they run blogs like Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jezebel, Gawker, Defamer, Consumerist, Gizmodo, etc.) with a lawsuit over a video that proves Tom Cruise is batsh*t insane.

Here's the entry that started it all xD

Gawker declined to pull it down despite claims of copyright infringement because they believed that it was under "fair use" policy for use in news reports. Scientology also threatened a hundred other blogs or so who were hosting the vid.

Is it going to work? Of course not. Millions of people (including me ) have already saved the video in their computers and will continue to upload it whenever it goes down somewhere else.

[NiX]

Hahahah yeah I've seen that vid too. May Mission: Impossible music pa.

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http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2007/12/...popstories

America's most lustful cities, by Forbes Magazine