Clipmarks | cpltaiji's clips

Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at Loss for Words

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 01:21:20 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

NEW DELHI — The latest bane of office productivity is Scrabulous, a virtual knockoff of the Scrabble board game, with over 700,000 players a day and nearly three million registered users.

Fans of the game are obsessive. They play against friends, co-workers, family members and strangers, and many have several games going at once.

Everyone seems to love the online game — everyone, that is, except the companies that own the rights to Scrabble: Hasbro, which sells it in North America, and Mattel, which markets it everywhere else.

In January, they denounced Scrabulous as piracy and threatened legal action against its creators, two brothers in Calcutta named Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla who run a software development company. Both Hasbro and Mattel said they were hoping for a solution that would not force them to shut down the game.

Tags: games, gaming, business

Druid Grave Unearthed in U.K.?

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:34:53 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: Interesting.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Digging for History

Feb. 11, 2008 -- Historical records tell of a mystical, priestly and learned class of elite individuals called Druids among Celtic societies in Britain, but there has been no archaeological evidence of their existence. Until, perhaps, now.

A series of graves found in a gravel quarry at Stanway near Colchester, Essex, have been dated to 40-60 A.D. At least one of the burials, it appears, may have been that of a Druid, according to a report published in British Archaeology.

Tags: religion, general interest, history

Saudi woman strip-searched over Starbucks meeting: report

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 23:59:21 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: Why even BOTHER to comment!

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A businesswoman was detained and strip-searched by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop with an unrelated man, a newspaper has reported.

The incident came just days after a UN report criticised the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom for widespread discrimination against women, and as a UN expert on women's rights began a visit to the country.

It also came as a Saudi princess announced a scholarship to promote women in journalism, saying "women journalists are best placed to promote cultural communication between men and women in Saudi society."

The English-language Arab News quoted a 40-year-old financial consultant, named only as Yara, as saying she was arrested on Monday by members of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

She said she was holding a business meeting with the man in a branch of Starbucks in Riyadh, in a section reserved for families.

Tags: religion, islam, reality, politics, insanity, human interest, bizarre

Human Tongue Accidentally Served Up in Hospital

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:14:23 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: .....and what did we learn from today's lesson, kids???

PS: Where the hell is Slovenia?

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

A human tongue has been served up in a hospital canteen's chicken risotto — and bosses reckon it was accidentally dropped into the food by a doctor.

Slovenian officials are investigating after a doctor complained about a strange piece of meat on his plate.

Ananova.com revealed the doctor insisted it was not chicken and after some intense bickering it was sent away for tests — and found to be part of a human tongue.

Inspectors have closed the canteen in Izola, southern Slovenia, to review hygiene standards.

Bosses believe a doctor could have unwittingly dropped the tongue in the food after treating a patient.

A hospital spokesman insisted: "I can say clearly that we have never used patients' parts in any of our dishes."

Tags: insanity, medicine, bizarre

Smash! The search for ‘sparticles’

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:06:36 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Scientists don’t know exactly what to expect from powerful collider

Unlocking the secrets of the universe
March 1, 2007: Scientists are edging closer to launching an experiment designed to uncover the origins of the universe, known as the Large Hadron Collider.

NBC News Web Extra

Squarks, photinos, selectrons, neutralinos. These are just a few types of supersymmetric particles, a special brand of particle that may be created when the world's most powerful atom smasher goes online this spring.

The Large Hadron Collider, under construction at the French-Swiss border at a particle physics lab called the European Organization for Nuclear Research (which is better known by its French acronym, CERN), will very likely change our understanding of the universe forever.

Tags: technology, science, research, general interest

Man Who Admitted Shooting, Dismembering, and Cooking His Girlfriend Wins Appeal

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:39:51 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: I wonder if he made head cheese? Yummy!!!

Clip Source: snafu-ed.blogspot.com

A New Jersey man who testified that he had in fact shot, dismembered, and boiled his girlfriend's head - but in self-defense - won an appeal of his murder conviction Monday.

George Jenewicz testified at his 2002 trial that he shot Eunice Gillens in self-defense following a fight and after panicking, dismembered her. He then put her head in a pot to boil away her features.

Tags: law, self defense, insanity, human interest, bizarre, crime

'I'm a human pet': The Goth teenager whose fiance walks her around on a dog lead

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:11:02 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: Hmmm! I'm going to try that with my wife!

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Going walkies: Dani Graves and girlfriend Tasha Maltby were allegedly barred from a bus

Given that she describes herself as a human pet – and is happy to walk around on a lead – Tasha Maltby is used to odd looks and even odder remarks.

But nothing had prepared her for the reaction of the bus driver who allegedly told the self-styled Goth and her boyfriend: "We don't let freaks and dogs like you on."

Miss Maltby and her fiance Dani Graves were so angered they have complained to the bus company of being "victimised".

"It is definitely discrimination, almost like a hate crime," 19-year-old Miss Maltby said yesterday.

The music technology student had this defence of her lifestyle.

"I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life," she said.

"I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."

Tags: reality, human interest, general interest, bizarre, animals

Professor: Fractions should be scrapped

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:01:28 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

PHILADELPHIA — A few years ago, Dennis DeTurck, an award-winning professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, stood at an outdoor podium on campus and proclaimed, "Down with fractions!"

"Fractions have had their day, being useful for by-hand calculation," DeTurck said as part of a 60-second lecture series. "But in this digital age, they're as obsolete as Roman numerals are."

The speech started a firestorm, particularly after the university posted it online.

"There were blogs and rants, and there were some critical e-mails," said DeTurck, who is now dean of the college of arts and sciences at Penn. "They'd always boil down to: 'What would we do in cooking and carpentry?' "

DeTurck is stirring the pot again, this time in a book scheduled to be published this year. Not only does he favor the teaching of decimals over fractions to elementary school students, he's also taking on long division, the calculation of square roots and by-hand multiplication of long numbers.

Tags: research, general interest, education

Man Paints with His Eyeball

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:55:37 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: But I still have to ask........WHY???

Clip Source: www.weirdasianews.com

Xiang Chen is an incredible man who can do… well… some incredible things.

Chen, from the Hunan province, can write amazing calligraphy with his eye. He can hold paint brushes, some as big as 4.4 pounds like in the picture below, under his eyelid and literally write and paint with his eye.

34 year-old Chen discovered his eyes were different from other people when he was 16.

He came home one day, from his construction work, and surprised to see that both of his eyes were full of sand and yet he didn’t feel any discomfort or pain.

Chen even tried poking sticks into his eyes but all he felt was a minor itchy sensation and it actually felt relaxing and good to him.

Outside of just painting and writing, Chen can also hold a stick in his eye and play the piano.

Check out Chen playing piano with his eye in this video - Here

Doctors have checked Chen out and say that his eyes are no different than anyone else’s.

Tags: bizarre

Love and Sex with Robots: Author Speaks to Stephen Colbert

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:49:34 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: snafu-ed.blogspot.com

As Stephen says, "Great, now I'll need a restraining order against my 4-slice toaster."

The book is Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships. The author, David Levy, believes that within the next few decades robots will be developed that people will not have sex with, but fall in love with and even marry.

Tags: sex, technology, science, reality, human interest, health, bizarre

Larry Craig Gets Help --- from the ACLU

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:15:37 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: snafu-ed.blogspot.com

Larry Craig's getting help from a source he probably didn't expect: the ACLU.

We know that Craig unsuccessfully tried to get his guilty plea revoked, but despite failing that, has decided to serve out his term, which ends in 2009.

On Tuesday the ACLU filed a brief citing a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

Okaaaay.

The brief also said, "The government cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Senator Craig was inviting the undercover officer to engage in anything other than sexual intimacy that would not have called attention to itself in a closed stall in the public restroom."

Uh-huh.

You'll recall that according to the incident report on his arrest, Larry Craig said he has a "wide stance" when using a restroom. It seems like the ACLU is taking a wide stance on the amount of leeway to give him.

Tags: politics, sex, reality, law enforcement, law, human interest, bizarre

Team Creates Rat Heart Using Cells of Baby Rats

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:34:48 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Medicine’s dream of growing new human hearts and other organs to repair or replace damaged ones received a significant boost Sunday when University of Minnesota researchers reported success in creating a beating rat heart in a laboratory.

Experts not involved in the Minnesota work called it “a landmark achievement” and “a stunning” advance. But they and the Minnesota researchers cautioned that the dream, if it is ever realized, was still at least 10 years away.

Dr. Doris A. Taylor, the head of the team that created the rat heart, said she followed a guiding principle of her laboratory: “give nature the tools, and get out of the way.”

“We just took nature’s own building blocks to build a new organ,” Dr. Taylor said of her team’s report in the journal Nature Medicine.

Tags: technology, science, research, medicine, health, general interest

Dog Rushed to E.R. After Owner Attempts to Neuter Him with Rubber Band

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:52:57 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: snafu-ed.blogspot.com

As obvious as something like this might seem, the local Humane Society in the San Antonio, Texas area is having to warn people to not try to neuter their pets with a rubber band.

Riley (pictured) was sent to the emergency room at the Humane Society. It's believed his owner tried to neuter him with a rubber band. Be glad I didn't post a photo with the painful part of Riley's body pictured.

Unfortunately, Riley's owner isn't the only one who thinks you can neuter pets this way, as there was a Yahoo! Answers question about the subject, with the questioner basically being called a moron by the respondents, much as Riley's owner most likely is.

Tags: animals, health, medicine

Introducing the Taser mp3 player

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:09:45 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: Amazing!

Clip Source: www.metro.co.uk

Have you ever been frustrated by the lack of a convenient way to electrocute people while listening to some of your favourite tunes? Well, the answer to your prayers is here.

The new range of, um, ultra-stylish Tasers

Taser, the world's leaders in delivering high-voltage shocks to the target of your choice, are releasing a handy all-in-one stun-gun and mp3 player carry case.

The product was unveiled at the massive Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Music Player Holster's mp3 player can hold up to 1GB of music – enough for 150 or so songs – and the C2 stun gun can deliver 50,000 volts into your desired shockee, via a pair of darts. The wires that connect the darts give it a range of up to 15 feet, so you can shock to your heart's content.

Tags: law, weapons, self defense, law enforcement, insanity, crime, bizarre

Man and wife have uncomfortable brothel encounter

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:55:42 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji

Clip Source: www.metro.co.uk

Artist's impression of what a brothel may look like

A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.

Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.

'I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming,' the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday.

The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported.

Tags: reality, human interest, bizarre, sex