Ever wondered how the graphing calculator made it onto the Macintosh? Read the fascinating story over here.
Month: December 2004
Black People Love Us
Racial harmony has finally been achieved. Or something like that.
The Impossible Situp
You know, the Web is full of really oddball crap. Like these guys, who convince folks to do the “ultimate situp” which is, according to their site “When you convince someone that it’s impossible to do a sit-up whilst blindfolded, then apply an ass to their face.” And they’ve got a bunch of drunken idiots on video doing it.
67 Years Old And Pregnant
Not only that, but pregnant with twins.
Romanian doctors say a 67-year-old woman is seven months pregnant with twin girls after fertility treatment.
If the pregnancy comes to full term, it is believed that Adriana Iliescu, an author and academic, will become the oldest recorded mother.
“Did You Order The Code Red?”
Somehow the manager is not in trouble for this (at least isn’t going to court like the guys he ordered around).
Two Wal-Mart employees who police say followed a manager’s orders to shoot and kill a stray cat have been charged with federal animal cruelty.
The men, both assistant managers at the Supercenter, were arrested and released after a court appearance Wednesday. Christopher Anderson, 29, and Jeffrey Hardin, 21, told police the store’s manager ordered them to get rid of the animal that was living in a storage trailer behind their store.
Thanks Barney for the link.
Oregon Man Claims To Have Predicted Earthquakes
So was he right or is this just a PR stunt (considering that many question the guy’s validity)?
An Oregon man said Thursday that his firm warned the Indian government of an impending earthquake that could cause more destruction across Asia. An Indian government minister called the warning “hogwash,” and blamed him for the scare that prompted tens of thousands of people to flee their homes for higher ground.
[…]
Geologists in Oregon said they had not heard of Park or of his research and joined the Indian official in questioning its validity.
“I’ve never had any contact with this group,” University of Oregon geology professor Ray Weldon said. “I assume if it was legitimate I would have heard of it.”
Geologist Lou Clark, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industry, said that she hears periodically from earthquake enthusiasts who claim to be able to predict impending disasters.
“One of the problems is that there are earthquakes all over the earth every day,” she said, making it easy for someone to ‘predict’ a quake in a large area, especially in regions of the world, such as Indonesia, that lie near the boundary between two tectonic plates.
“The problem is because quakes are concentrated in a few areas it is very difficult to say that something is not chance unless you are completely specific about the quake,” she said.
She’s exactly right. A bunch of small quakes in the same area doesn’t mean a big one’s coming. Using that logic, Bend would have been blown away after we had all those micro quakes a while back.
All sounds a bit fishy to me.
Nintendo Tattoo
OK, that’s just freaky. This guy got a big tattoo on his chest of an old-school NES controller. The tattoo was drawn to make it look like the cord’s coming out of a hole in his chest.
Santa’s Helpers Busted For Drugs
How this for taking advantage of the holiday spirit?
The packages were labeled as toys for good girls and boys and the business was called Santa’s Helpers. But authorities say the packages were nothing more than a naughty ruse to cover a large-scale drug smuggling operation.
The bogus business tried to smuggle $7.8 million worth of cocaine from Los Angeles to nearby Willoughby, Ohio authorities said. Drug agents seized about 175 pounds of cocaine Monday in the largest seizure in Cleveland this year.
The Quest For Ken
Producers of Jeopardy! have announced a “Super Tournament” where they’re going to pit 150 past five-time winners against each other. The two surviving contestants will face Ken Jennings in a $2,000,000 finale. Full Story.