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Top 50 Influential People that Never Lived

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:01:54 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

The Top 50 of the 101:

1. The Marlboro Man
2. Big Brother
3. King Arthur
4. Santa Claus (St. Nick)
5. Hamlet
6. Dr. Frankenstein's Monster
7. Siegfried
8. Sherlock Holmes
9. Romeo and Juliet
10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
11. Uncle Tom
12. Robin Hood
13. Jim Crow
14. Oedipus
15. Lady Chatterly
16. Ebenezer Scrooge
17. Don Quixote
18. Mickey Mouse
19. The American Cowboy
20. Prince Charming
21. Smokey Bear
22. Robinson Crusoe
23. Apollo and Dionysus
24. Odysseus
25. Nora Helmer
26. Cinderella
27. Shylock
28. Rosie the Riveter
29. Midas
30. Hester Prynne
31. The Little Engine That Could
32. Archie Bunker
33. Dracula
34. Alice in Wonderland
35. Citizen Kane
36. Faust
37. Figaro
38. Godzilla
39. Mary Richards
40. Don Juan
41. Bambi
42. William Tell
43. Barbie
44. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
45. Venus and Cupid
46. Prometheus
47. Pandora
48. G. I. Joe
49. Tarzan
50. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock

Tags: people

Funny product labels

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:02:48 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.privatseite.com

On Sears hairdryer:
Do not use while sleeping.
(Gee, that's the only time I have to work on my hair!)

On a bag of Fritos:
You could be a winner! No purchase nesessary. Details inside.
(The shoplifter special!)

On a bar of Dial soap:
Directions: Use like regular soap.
(and that would be how?)

On some Swann frozen dinners:
Serving suggestion: Defrost.
(But it's *just* a suggestion!)

On a hotel provided shower cap in a box:
Fits one head.
(The big one or the little one?)

On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert:(printed on bottom of the box)
Do not turn upside down.
(Too late! You lose!)

On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding:
Product will be hot after heating.
(Are you sure??? Let's experiment.)

On packaging for a Rowenta iron:
Do not iron clothes on body.
(But wouldn't that save more time?)
(Whose body?)

On Boot's Children's cough medicine:
Do not drive car or operate machinery.
(We could do a lot to reduce the rate of construction accidents if we just kept those 5 year olds off those fork lifts.)

On Nytol sleep aid:
Warning: may cause drowsiness.
(One would hope!)

On a Korean kitchen knife:
Warning keep out of children.
(Or pets! What's for dinner?)

On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights:
For indoor or outdoor use only.
(As opposed to use in outer space.)

On a Japanese food processor:
Not to be used for the other use.
(Now I'm curious.)

On Sainsbury's peanuts:
Warning: contains nuts.
(but no peas?)

On an American Airlines packet of nuts:
Instructions: open packet, eat nuts.
(have a lobotomy)

On a Swedish chainsaw:
Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.
(What is this, a home castration kit?)

On a child's Superman costume:
Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly.
(That's right, destroy a universal childhood fantasy!)

Tags: humor

Elephants recognize selves in mirror

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:23:44 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: news.xinhuanet.com

BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A study of three female elephants at the Bronx Zoo suggests pachyderms could be included in an elite group of animals -- chimpanzees, humans and perhaps dolphins -- that recognize their image when looking at a mirror.

Happy, a 34-year-old Asian elephant, faced her reflection in an 8-by-8-foot mirror in a 2005 experiment and repeatedly used her trunk to touch an "X" painted above her eye. She could not have seen the mark except in her reflection. And she did not respond to a similar mark above her other eye that was invisible except under a black light.

Two other zoo elephants, Maxine and Patty, failed the touch test in two tries at the experiment. But all three adult female elephants at the zoo behaved while in front of the jumbo mirror in ways that suggested they recognized themselves, said Plotnik, a graduate student at Emory University in Atlanta.

Maxine used the tip of her trunk to probe the inside of her mouth while facing the mirror. She also used her trunk to slowly pull one ear toward the mirror, as if she were using the reflection to investigate herself. The researchers reported not seeing that type of behavior at any other time.

"Doing things in front of the mirror: that spoke volumes to me that they were definitely recognizing themselves," said Janine Brown, a research physiologist and elephant expert at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington who was not part of the study.

A psychologist who devised the mark test in 1970 for use on chimps, called the results "very strong and very compelling." But he said additional studies on both elephants and dolphins were needed.

Tags: animals, psychology, science

New Darwin Award

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 21:01:05 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: darwinawards.com

Like two people, 17 and 20, who imitated Darth Vader, and made light sabres from fluorescent light tubes. That's right, they opened them up, poured gasoline inside, and lit them. As one can imagine, a Star Wars sized explosion was not far behind. Darth Vader died, while his opponent survived to 'fess up to their creative, but stupid, reenactment.

Clip Source: darwinawards.com

Tags: stupid, humor, star wars

Sinatra the Jack O'Lantern

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:34:32 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: home.nycap.rr.com

Frank Sinatra - "Ol' Orange Eyes"

Tags: halloween

50 coolest websites

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:42:47 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.time.com

Arts and Entertainment
A party mix of amusements, from virtual art galleries to TV trivia to talk radio for your iPod, plus some of the best humor writing on the Web. Read Our Reviews »

Aardman Animations
The Complete Review
Opus 1 Classical
New York Public Library's Digital Gallery
The Museum of Online Museums
Orisinal
McSweeney's Internet Tendency
Ze's Page
Podcast Bunker
Mercora
TV.com

Blogs
For many Netizens, Web logs—reading them, writing them, or both—have become a way of life. So this year, they get their own category. See box for tips on how to keep up with all your favorites, plus tools you can use to build your own. Read Our Reviews »

Overheard in New York
Jalopnik, Autoblog
Go Fug Yourself
PostSecret
MoCo Loco
Bayraider
Allen's Blog
Chocolate and Zucchini
Boing Boing
Anonymous Lawyer
Dooce
Chromasia
SportsBlogs Nation
Lifehacker
Gridskipper

Lifestyle, Health and Hobbies
Eat better. Share digital photos. Network with your neighbors—or your neighbor's dogs. Read Our Reviews »

Flavorpill
Cancer Nutrition Info
Flickr
ZooZoom
Food 411
CNET Digital Home DIY
The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator
Dogster
I-Neighbors

News and Information
New ways to search the Web—for fast facts, for jobs, for anything—plus a variety of online resources where you can learn more about the law, public policy or your home entertainment system. Read Our Reviews »

Blinkx.tv
Identity Theft Resource Center
Answers.com
OhMyNews International
Indeed, SimplyHired, Workzoo
FindLaw
Public Agenda
Clusty

Shopping
Our picks in this category range from the general to the specific. You'll find a price-oriented search engine and the best place to buy shoes; a far-reaching travel portal and ground zero for gag gifts. Read Our Reviews »

Sidestep.com
Craigslist
Shopzilla
Woot!
Archie McPhee
Zappos.com
Complaints.com

Email This List

Tags: internet, websites

Sources of online health info go unchecked

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:39:51 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

About three-quarters of Americans who go online for medical advice fail to consistently check the source and date of the information, a survey suggests.

Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet Project in Washington, D.C., found about 10 million American adults, or seven per cent of internet users in the U.S., searched for health or medical information on the web in one day during August.

Health searches were about as popular as paying bills online, reading blogs or using the web to look up a phone number of address.

But 75 per cent of health seekers said they check the source and date of health information they find online "only sometimes," "hardly ever," or "never," meaning they aren't checking for signs of quality in their search results.

New search engines that focus only on medical topics could change how people search for health information, the report said.

People may not check for the source and date of information since about four per cent of "frequently visited" health websites disclosed the source on their page, and two per cent said how the content is updated, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Tags: internet, health

Newborn baby hair can indicate drug abuse

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:29:24 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

A newborn's hair suggests if a woman intentionally took methamphetamines knowing she was pregnant, a landmark Canadian study has found.

The study by researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children involved tests on hair samples from 8,000 Canadian mothers and newborns collected between 1997 and 2005.

It found evidence of methamphetamines in the hair of some newborns. The drug's use by expectant mothers results in it moving through the placenta to the fetus.

Fetal hair does not start growing until about the 20th week of pregnancy, at which point women tend to know they're pregnant, said principal author Dr. Gideon Koren, head of the hospital's Motherisk program.

"It has to be persistent in the blood of mom in order to grow into the hair. That's a very, very ominous sign of addiction."

While the short- and long-term effects of methamphetamines on the developing fetus are not fully known, Koren said animal and small-scale human studies suggest the drug may affect normal growth and development.

Tags: drugs, baby, pregnancy

Garbage for sale

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:19:06 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

NEW YORK (AP) - Rotting garbage piled along the curb, decades-old furniture decaying in the rain, discarded cigarette butts everywhere you look - New York City can be a filthy place.

To many, it's a disgusting downside of living here. But to Justin Gignac, it's treasure.

The 26-year-old spends his evenings collecting garbage, neatly packing the refuse into clear plastic cubes and selling them on his website for US$50.

If the idea of displaying trash seems repulsive, consider this: He has sold more than 800 and the cubes are in 41 states and 20 countries.

"If the city ever gets cleaned up, I'm screwed," he says.

Gignac doesn't have to worry too much. On average, the sanitation department hauls away about 22.6 million kilograms of garbage a day, and it's mostly on the street corners.

In one week, New Yorkers throw out enough garbage to equal the weight of the Empire State Building, and there's always an interesting scrap of paper or a ketchup packet left squashed on the street.

Gignac considers his work art, but it's also more of a social experiment, and he's certainly not the traditional starving-artist - he has a day job at an advertising firm.

He is discerning about his trash: He only collects what's on the street, no digging into bags. Nothing slimy or wet makes it into a cube. No used condoms, latex gloves, or rotting foods. No cigars (they stink even when the box is sealed) and nothing that looks like it could be infested with some kind of critter - he's really squeamish.

Gignac has found movie scripts, handcuffs, old photos and some of model Heidi Klum's mail. Cigarette butts are most prevalent.

The cubes are about the size of a small bag of movie popcorn, leak-proof and odour-proof. When organized on his shelf, the garbage actually looks pristine.

Tags: garbage, art, new york city

No lego for Christmas?

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:07:12 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

COPENHAGEN (AP) - Children hoping to get Lego toys for Christmas may be in for a disappointment.

The Danish toymaker is having a hard time keeping up with demand for its popular plastic building blocks as toy stores stack their inventories for the Christmas season, a company official said Tuesday.

"Many of our most popular products are sold out," Lego spokeswoman Charlotte Simonsen said. "As part of efforts to restructure the company and focus on our core business, we had to make some cuts and the company has not had time to readjust its production."

Simonsen declined to say how many orders had been turned down, but said the restructuring changes had affected the production of Duplo bricks and boxes with Lego City, Star Wars and Lego Technik sets.

The Billund, Denmark-based group has been trimming its staff at home and abroad since starting a restructuring program four years ago. Part of its production and distribution has been moved to countries with lower wages than Denmark, including the Czech Republic and Mexico.

Boersen, Denmark's leading financial newspaper, estimated that Lego could lose 750 million kroner ($127 million) because of lost Christmas sales.

Tags: toys, christmas, business, lego

Audio fingerprinting for MySpace

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:00:51 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

MySpace.com will use "audio fingerprinting" technology to block users from uploading copyright music to the social networking site, the company says.

MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., said it will review all music files uploaded by community members to their online profiles. The files will be run through a music database from Gracenote Inc.

"MySpace is staunchly committed to protecting artists' rights, whether those artists are on major labels or are independent acts," said Chris DeWolfe, MySpace chief executive and co-founder.

The company said users who repeatedly attempt to upload copyright music files will be permanently barred from the site.

The challenge of policing its users' music choices is just one issue facing MySpace, which has skyrocketed in popularity over the past year.

The social networking site must address concerns that it will morph from a user-controlled site to a corporate tool that News Corp. uses to push the company's movies and TV shows. MySpace also has been grappling with frequent spam attacks and has had to take steps to limit invitations from bogus "friends" sent to thousands of users at a time.

Tags: internet, myspace, copyright

Spider silk in bullet proof vests?

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:03:22 GMT

clipped by: evilonion

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

A team of engineers have identified key physical processes that give spider silk its strength and durability, bringing the idea of manufactured web silk one step closer to reality.

Scientists are hoping to tap into the strength of this natural fibre. Artificial spider silk could have a wide range of uses, from artificial tendons and ligaments to parachutes and bulletproof vests.

Spiders don't actually spin their webs. Instead, they squirt out a thick gel of silk solution. One teaspoonful of this can make 10,000 webs, according to researchers. Spiders then use their hind legs as well as their body weight and gravity to stretch the gel into a fine thread.

The key to spider silk is polymers, according to researchers. The silk protein solution consists of 30 to 40 per cent polymers — the rest is water.

Polymers have been used in plastics, bulletproof vests and parts of the International Space Station. They are extremely strong, can be flexible or stiff, water-soluble or insoluble, and resistant to heat and chemicals.

Researchers found that the spider's silk-producing glands are capable of turning fibrous proteins into an insoluble fibre.

Like a cooked egg white, dry spider silk doesn't revert to its former liquid state. What started out as a water-based solution becomes impervious to water.

As the liquid leaves the spider's abdomen, it takes on the characteristics of a liquid crystal. The silk as it stretches and dries forms tiny crystalline structures that act as reinforcing agents.

Tags: spiders, science