Clipmarks | LorisKnight's clips

HILLIARD, Ohio - A high school student who tricked football fans from a crosstown rival into holding up signs that together spelled out, "We Suck," was suspended for the prank, students said.

Kyle Garchar, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School in suburban Columbus, said he spent about 20 hours over three days plotting the trick, which was captured on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube. He said he was inspired by a similar prank pulled by Yale students in 2004, when Harvard fans were duped into holding up cards with the same message.

At the end of the video, Garchar wryly thanks the 800 Hilliard Darby High School supporters who raised the cards at the start of the third quarter during last Friday's football game.

"It couldn't have been done without you," reads the closing frame of the video.

Garchar, 17, created a grid to plan how the message would be spelled out once fans in three sections held up either a black or white piece of construction paper.

Tags: odd

Student Finds Mega-Explosion in Space, Overlooked By Scientists

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 16:20:14 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

How's this for an undergraduate project: A student at West Virginia University has uncovered an oversight in six-year-old radio telescope data that researchers believe could open up whole new fields of study in astrophysics.

David Narkevik, an undergraduate at West Virginia University, was re-analysing data from the Parkes telescope in Australia when he came across a five-millisecond burst of energy so powerful that it "saturated" the equipment. Researchers had previously dismissed it as a man-made phenomenon, an accident to be ignored, according to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

But another look at the data has convinced scientists that in fact the burst was real, emanating from a point some 1.5 billion light years away, far enough away that any ordinary energy surge should have been very faint.

Now scientists think they may have recorded a catastrophic event such as two neutron stars colliding, or the final evaporation of a black hole.

Tags: space, science

The Top 14 Rejected Slogans for Beer

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:40:30 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.topfive.com

Beer: Getting sorority girls knocked up for 300 years

Goes Down Cold, Comes Up Smooth!

A decent excuse for your normal clumsy self

Because You're Sober

Tastes like piss, but you'll drink it anyway

Beer: That nasty taste means it's workin'!

You have to fill your bladder with something.

Don't Make Germany Angry. You Wouldn't Like Germany When It's Angry.

We don't make the urine. We make the urine faster.

Numbing the Embarrassment of Being You

It's the thicker-chicker-picker-upper!

Easier to Spell than Whiskey

The *Other* Thin Yellowish Liquid

and the Number 1 Rejected Slogan for Beer...

Beer: It's how you got here.

Tags: humor

Soldier of the Future Gets His Gear On

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:12:45 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

TARMIYAH, Iraq -- They were supposed to be wearing the high-tech soldier suits of the future. But when the grunts of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment first started running around with a pile of gadgets on their backs and their helmets, they absolutely hated the gear.

Oh, maybe the Land Warrior gizmo suite -- complete with digital maps, wearable computers and new radios -- might do the bosses some good, the troops told me. And yeah, the equipment was about as close as troops today were going to get to the kind of tricked-out, sci-fi ensemble you might see worn by Halo's Master Chief. But at 16 pounds, on top of an already crushing 60-plus-pound load for grunts, the gear just wasn't worth the weight. The Army brass wasn't exactly thrilled with Land Warrior, either -- it yanked every last dime to fund the get-ups. The half-billion-dollar, 15-year project looked dead.

Tags: gadgets, gear, iraq, war

Top 10 Firefox Extensions, and More

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:42:53 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight
clipper's remarks: Why isn’t it completely comprehensive? There are a lot of lists out there that honestly aren’t all that great. Some of them are just repeats of what you’ll find at other places, and I don’t want to put you through visiting article after article if they are all essentially the same.

15 more categories in addition to the ones listed in the clip.

Clip Source: cybernetnews.com

We always get a lot of positive feedback on the “best of” or “top 10″ Firefox lists that we put together, but we’re far from the only site doing that. So today I thought I would focus on making an a semi-comprehensive guide for the lists that are available on the web.

Best Firefox Extensions for Bookmarking

10 Great Firefox Extensions For Tabbed Browsing

Firefox Extensions cause Memory Leaks and Crashes

CyberNet’s Updated Guide On Firefox 2 Tweaks

10 Firefox Extensions to make you more Productive

200 Firefox Extensions Installed At One Time!

Screenshots of 200+ Firefox Themes

Top 10: Must-have Firefox Extensions

Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity

Top 10 Firefox Web 2.0 Add-ons

Top 10 Firefox Extensions for Web Designers

Top 10 Firefox Super Extensions

Top 10 Firefox Add-ons for Researchers

Top 10 Ways Best Ways to Manage Firefox Tabs

Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Avoid

The Top 10 Firefox Extensions for SEO

10 Firefox Plugins That Save You Money

Tags: firefox, extensions, lists, top ten

Firefox: Run Faster Without Rebooting Reinstalling

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:50:58 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

If Firefox has a flaw to get bummed about, it's that it slows down your machine after a few hours of steady computing. Digital Inspiration has a workaround for this that (yay!) does not include any sort of ~~restart~~ reinstalling:

Start Firefox and export your bookmarks as a file on your hard-drive (we'll need them later).
Type firefox.exe - P in the Run box of Windows.
Click the Create Profile button without making any modifications to your existing profile (which is normally called "default")

That should do it; now, when you start Firefox in your new profile, you should be up to speed (get it?). Sure, it won't have all the tweaks of your old profile, but if you're just looking for a CPU break, this might be the way to go.

Tags: browsers, firefox, tips

Do You Sign The Back Of Your Credit Cards?

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:55:52 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

One of the most common ways to guard yourself against credit card misuse is to sign the back of your card, so that merchants can check the signature on your card with that on your ID. Right? Well, maybe not. According to financial blog The Tao of Making Money, the best practice is not to sign it.

Here's our official advice on signing the strip on the back: Don't sign it. It's useless as a deterrent, as anyone who takes your card then has a sample of your signature which they can not only use on any charge slip, but on your checks as well. However, do not leave the white strip blank. In that space, write: "Ask For Picture ID," and be prepared to back that up someday when you're in a hurry and the clerk wants to see a driver's license as well as the card. It makes the charge transaction a little longer, but a lot safer.

I've been doing this for years and while it's not a perfect solution, it certainly is better than nothing.

Tags: consumer, credit cards, fraud

Exotic World Said to Harbor 'Hot Ice'

Thu, 17 May 2007 14:46:46 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.space.com

A Neptune-sized world in a distant solar system orbits very close to its star and might be covered with exotic forms of water not naturally found on Earth, scientists say.

The bizarre world is being called a "hot ice planet."

The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, marks the first time relatively small planets similar to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune in our solar system have been found orbiting very close to their stars.

Prior to this discovery, only gaseous giants known as "hot Jupiters" were known to inhabit such close stellar quarters.

any water on its atmosphere would be in the form of steam.

Water on the surface of the planet is a different matter, scientists say. The pressures on GJ 436 b are so great that water would adopt forms not found anywhere on Earth except in laboratories.

"Water has more than a dozen solid states, only one of which is our familiar ice,"

Tags: science, space, planets

Airlines body bids farewell to paper tickets

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:15:28 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

GENEVA (Reuters) - The global airlines body IATA said on Monday it had placed its last order for paper tickets, clearing the way for air travel to be based entirely on electronic ticketing from June 1 next year.

"In just 278 more days, the paper ticket will become a collector's item," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.

The changeover from paper would not only cut airlines' costs by $9 for every traveller but would also mean the industry -- criticized by environmentalists for its part in global warming -- would save 50,000 mature trees a year, he added.

Bisignani did not say whether the $9 in cost savings would or should be passed on to passengers.

Based in Geneva, IATA represents more than 240 airlines which operate 94 percent of scheduled international flights.

Tags: technology

The Top 17 Ways to Tell Someone Their Fly Is Unzipped

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:19:28 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.topfive.com

You've got Windows on your laptop.

Sailor Ned's trying to take a little shore leave.

Your dork is ajar.

Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bells.

I can see your Gap dancers.

Paging Mr. Johnson... Paging Mr. Johnson...

Your pod bay door is open, Hal.

Elvis Junior has left the building!

Mini Me is making a break for the escape pod.

Ensign Hanes is reporting a hull breach on the lower deck, sir.

Captain, sensors detect a wormhole in the forward quadrant!

Lil' Shaq's at the free show line.

You've got your fly set for "Monica" instead of "Hillary."

Your closet door is open and Donato's peeking out.

You've got a security breach at Los Pantalones.

I see you have an opening in senior management.

and the Number 1 Way to Tell Someone Their Fly Is Unzipped...

Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction.

Tags: humor

Travelers arrive at Facebook

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:35:24 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Hatched in a Harvard University dorm room three years ago as a way to keep tabs on fellow students, the social networking site Facebook is becoming a go-to destination for travelers — and not just the type who frequent youth hostels or friends' couches.

Since opening its virtual doors last fall to anyone with an e-mail address, Facebook has graduated to more than 37 million users, and the 25-and-over crowd is its fastest-growing demographic.

A key factor in the site's rapid ascent: development of more than 3,000 free, third-party software applications that let Facebook "friends" trade everything from travel tips, Scrabble scores and books they're reading to hedge fund advice via a fantasy stock exchange.

Tags: travel

When Giving Up is Good for You

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:14:01 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

Quitting may very well be good for your health, according to a study reported on by the Association for Psychological Science.

...the psychologists followed teenagers for a full year. Over that time, individuals who did not persist obtaining hard- to-reach goals had much lower levels of a protein called CRP, an indicator of bodily inflammation. Inflammation has recently been linked to several serious diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, suggesting that healthy but overly tenacious teens may already be on the road toward chronic illness later in life.

The lesson isn't necessarily a new one: know when to cut your losses. The upside to the study for those less willing to give up on goals easily is that of the participants who did quit, those who were more willing to set and re-engage in new goals had more sense of purpose. So just because it can be good for you to give up on a goal, that doesn't mean it's time to give up on tough goals altogether.

Tags: goals, health, motivation

Firefox Quick Tip: Stumble without the StumbleUpon Toolbar

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:43:53 GMT

clipped by: LorisKnight

Clip Source: www.lifespy.com

Firefox getting swamped with all the add-ons and toolbars? Then why not get rid of the StumbleUpon toolbar. If your primary use of StumbleUpon is that magical Stumble! button, then you might consider uninstalling the toolbar. While I love stumbling and voting myself. There are a lot of buttons and drop-downs that I don’t use at all.

So what then, if you get rid of the toolbar? No more Stumbling? Well, not exactly since you can just use a bookmarklet to let you continue stumbling. Just click and drag this bookmarklet to your Firefox bookmarks toolbar:

Stumble This!

Tags: firefox tips, web, computers