Archive | December, 2011

Lululemon backs off claim Coke and Pepsi will be “cigarettes of the future”

19 Dec

Lululemon in an official publication stated in 2008 “soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi will be known as ‘the cigarettes of the future’”.  Lululemon in 2008 also had to remove controversial messages from it’s bags.  Click here to download a pdf of the document that contains the soft drink comment.

 

Lululemon drops Coke and Pepsi from its manifesto
January 16, 2008 | Canadian Press

Yoga-wear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. has removed a reference suggesting soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi will be known as “the cigarettes of the future” from its corporate manifesto, which adorns the popular retailer’s shopping bags and website.

The line, which had appeared in the top left corner of the manifesto poster, had read: “Coke, Pepsi and all other pops will be known as the cigarettes of the future. Colas are not a substitute for water. They are just another cheap drug made to look great by advertising.”

(more…)

Massive driftwood washes ashore

18 Dec

I see this image and I imagine somewhere the Lorax is crying…

 

Image of Massive driftwood tree Photo: Philip Lachman via Our Amazing Planet

 

Epic driftwood: Monster tree washes ashore
Flooding, high tides and blasting winds worked together to land a massive drift log taller than a single-story house.
Shea Gunther | mnn.com | Nov 19 2011

Check out the size of that thing!

We have driftwood where I live in Portland, Maine, but nothing like what washes ashore near Washington state’s Olympic National Park, where this photo was taken. The tree most likely fell into a river after flooding and floated out to sea. High tides and strong wind then pushed it back on shore.

It should be noted that the woman standing in front of the tree is six feet tall.

Turtle embryos communicate before hatching

17 Dec

This is eerie. The article headline doesn’t convey the main point, that before they hatch turtle embryos communicate so they can all hatch at the same time.

Turtle embryos communicate with each other to maximise the chance they are ready to leave the nest together. Image David Dall/Pestat

Turtle embryos tune in to heartbeats
Anna Salleh | ABC | 30 November 2011

Turtle embryos tune into each others’ heartbeats so they are able to hatch at roughly the same time, say Australian researchers.

Zoologist Dr Ricky Spencer and colleagues of the University of Western Sydney report their findings today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Australian freshwater turtles bury their eggs on riverbanks where they incubate for 50 to 70 days before hatching.

When the young turtles hatch their mother is long gone and they must fend for themselves.

First they must dig themselves out of the hole they are buried in and get to the river without being eaten by predators.

To make life a little easier – and safer – the turtles synchronise their hatching so they emerge from the nest as a group, says Spencer

This means there can be a group effort to dig out of the nest. Being in a group also reduces the chance of any individual being eaten by a predator.

(more…)

Rich boys in Japan have worlds most exspensive car wreck

16 Dec

Oh to be a zillionaire, with these sorts of problems. The way the world work’s I bet with insurance some of these rich tossers will make a profit.

Click an image to embiggen.

 


Eight Ferraris Crash at ‘Gathering of Narcissists’
By Cheng Herng Shinn | http://www.bloomberg.com/news | Dec 5, 2011

Eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini were part of a 14-car crash in Japan yesterday that wrecked more than $1 million of vehicles.

“The accident occurred when the driver of a red Ferrari was switching from the right lane to the left and skidded,” said Mitsuyoshi Isejima, executive officer for Yamaguchi Prefecture’s Expressway Traffic Police unit. “It was a gathering of narcissists.” The drivers were aged between 37 and 60 years old, he said.

The accident, at 10:16 a.m. on the rain-soaked Chugoku Expressway in Yamaguchi Prefecture at the western tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu, also involved three Mercedes Benz (DAI) vehicles and two Toyotas, police said. The convoy was heading from Kyushu to Hiroshima when the accident occurred. No fatalities were reported and 10 people sustained bruising and minor injuries.

The person suspected of causing the accident, a 60-year-old self-employed man from Fukuoka prefecture, may face up to three months in jail or a fine of as much as 100,000 yen ($1,280), said Isejima. The accident included a Ferrari F-360 that costs more than 18 million yen. It took longer than six hours to clear the highway of wreckage, Isejima said.

(more…)

Candians “entangle” diamonds

15 Dec

Quantum entanglement is one of the magical mysterious things predicted by quantum theory and it has been created and proven in a lab. Basically, the Corsican twin effect can be real, at least for really small things.

NRC scientist Ben Sussman, left, and his postdoctoral researcher Philip Bustard in the NRC lab on Sussex Drive, have been working on a random number generator based on quantum physics. Image National Research Council Canad.

 

Rules of entanglement
An Ottawa group of quantum physicists has found a way to ‘entangle’ two diamonds, meaning a change in one brings a simultaneous change in the other — bringing one science-fiction puzzle closer to science fact.
By Tom Spears  |  The Ottawa Citizen  |  December 1, 2011

OTTAWA — An Ottawa physicist’s team has “entangled” two diamonds, bringing the mysterious world of quantum physics to objects big enough to see.

Entanglement is a process in quantum mechanics by which two objects act like a single object even though they’re not physically connected.

It usually involves very small objects — atoms or molecules, for example.

Now Ben Sussman of the National Research Council has entangled objects far bigger than molecules — pieces of diamond about half a millimetre thick. It’s a step toward extremely fast quantum computing.

Sussman and his group write that “our intuition about the natural world” says quantum physics rules the tiny scale of atoms, while “classical” laws of motion cover objects big enough to see, such as cars or golf balls.

(more…)

Sandusky’s lawyer tells people to call gay phone sex line

14 Dec

Whooops! This ladies and gentlemen is a near textbook example of a Freudian slip.

Out of respect for the alleged victims, I will show an empty space in a mural where Sandusky once was.

Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer cites gay phone sex line in stating case
http://www.suntimes.com | December 14, 2011

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Jerry Sandusky’s decision Tuesday to waive his preliminary hearing shifts the focus in the child sex-abuse scandal to two Penn State administrators accused of failing to properly report suspected abuse and lying to the grand jury investigating Sandusky.

Tim Curley and Gary Schultz face their own pretrial hearing on Friday in Harrisburg, and although the charges are much different, with far less severe potential penalties, their cases could hinge on a man also expected to be a prime witness against Sandusky: assistant football coach Mike McQueary.

(more…)

H&M sees nothing wrong with plunking human heads on computer bodies

13 Dec

Talks about perpetuating unrealistic body images. Some have said this is another example of how the fashion industry hates real women. Personally, I think it is terrible in that it takes jobs away from 16 yr old tall skinny girls who otherwise would have to go to school, play basketball and enter beauty pageants instead of globe hop and lead a happy glamorous life like Kate Moss.

H&M recently admitted to using a computer-generated body to model clothing for much of their website. The company adds on different real-life models' faces in post-production for a result like the one seen here. All images from H&M's site.

 

Clothing Giant H&M Defends ‘Perfect’ Virtual Models
By Katie Kindelan | Dec 6, 2011 | abcnews.go.com

Visiting the H&M website is not the only virtual experience to be had by H&M customers who choose to order the company’s clothes online instead of inside one of their 2,300 global retail stores.

Also “completely virtual” are the models at the center of H&M’s swimsuit and lingerie online campaigns, the Swedish-based retailer confirmed.

“It’s not a real body; it is completely virtual and made by the computer,” H&M press officer Hacan Andersson told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in an article questioning the company’s picture-perfect online models.

In the Dec. 4 article, translated into English by U.S. celebrity website Jezebel, Andersson explained the company’s approach.

“We take pictures of the clothes on a doll that stands in the shop, and then create the human appearance with a program on [a] computer,” he said.

Images from the company’s website show models wearing the latest swimsuit and lingerie looks appear in generic, stock-form with their left hand resting slightly below their waist, right arm straight and face looking directly ahead.

(more…)

“Broke” woman makes meth inside a Wal Mart

12 Dec

The suspect was “too broke” to buy the ingredients to make meth at home so she just used the materials at the store in the store. Things are tough all over.

 

Oklahoma woman allegedly mixes meth in Walmart
KFSN  |  December 09, 2011

FRESNO, California (KFSN) — A woman was arrested at an Oklahoma Walmart for allegedly mixing chemicals needed to make methamphetamines inside the store.

Elizabeth Halfmoon reportedly told police she was too broke to buy the chemicals.

The chemical mixture was so toxic, it ate some of the paint off of the shelf.

“When I saw her she had just finished mixing-she had just finished up the mixing process of some sulfuric acid with starter fluid in a bottle, and was in the process of taping the cap onto the bottle,” said Officer David Shelby with the Tulsa Police Department.

One officer suffered chemical burns to his hands. No one else was injured.

Police say they arrested Halfmoon last month in another meth sting. She had just recently been released.

Chattering teeth have 60th birthday this year

11 Dec

Awww, they look so young for their age, doncha think?

Yakity-Yak: 60 Years of Teeth That Talk Back
By Lisa Hix | www.collectorsweekly.com  |  October 24th, 2011

Chattering teeth image from www.collectorsweekly.com

 

 

There’s something to be said for being easily amused. In the 1940s, toy inventor Eddie Goldfarb saw an ad for a false-teeth holder called a “Tooth Garage” and he started cracking up. In his head, he saw a pair of dentures, chomping and sputtering down the road like a car, and parking on their own.

Thus, in 1949, Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth—the wildly popular wind-up gag commonly known as “chattering teeth”—were born.

Goldfarb took his invention to toy kingpin Marvin Glass, who showed it to his buddy, Irving Fishlove, of Chicago’s famed novelty concern, H. Fishlove & Co. That sort of ridiculous and obvious slapstick humor is exactly the sort of thing Fishlove, who also introduced latex fake vomit to the world, lived for.

The Yakity-Yak chompers made their official debut in 1950. “Amazing!” reads the box. “Look! They Walk! They Talk! They’re Alive!”

At the time, America was enjoying a Golden Era for toys and games, thanks to the wartime invention of plastics and injection-molding, and these men were turning the industry on its ear. Goldfarb went on to invent games like Battling Tops, Kerplunk!, and Shark Attack!, as well as novelty items like an egg-laying toy chicken called Busy Biddy and the Giant Bubble Gun. Marvin Glass & Associates brought the world Mousetrap, Operation, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Fishlove, meanwhile, produced some of the highest-selling lowbrow gags in the business.

(more…)

Giant toy car makes world record jump

10 Dec

Little boys grow up and become big boys. Hooray for fun! Congratulations Mr. Foust on a good safe stunt.


Team Hot Wheels and Tanner Foust Make Record Jump
motortrend.com   |  Jason Udy  |  May 31 2011

Remember the orange Hot Wheels V-Drop Super Velocity Track Set you played with as a kid – or maybe over the past weekend? You know the one that you attached to the back of your bedroom door and fantasized about going down inside in a real car? Well you’re not the only one.

Team Hot Wheels built a life-size version of the orange V-Drop Super Velocity Track Set at the “IZOD Presents Hot Wheels Fearless at the 500” for the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, Sunday May 29, 2011. The Mystery Yellow Driver, later revealed as Tanner Foust, set a new world record with a 332 foot jump with a four-wheeled vehicle. Foust broke the previous record by 31 feet.

“Fans witnessed not only a record-breaking jump today, but also an incredible childhood fantasy come to life which engaged multiple generations,” said Simon Waldron, vice president of marketing for Hot Wheels. “Hot Wheels has a deep and rich history in racing that spans over 40 years and there was no better global stage than the Indy 500 to create this once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

 

Foust, known at the time merely as the Mystery Yellow Driver, dropped down the 90 foot ramp of the life-size V-Drop Super Velocity Track Set, which was suspended to a 10-story high door, on his way to the record-setting jump. Foust was revealed as the mystery Team Hot Wheelsâ„¢ Yellow Driver moments after the jump.

 

“As a kid playing with Hot Wheels I could only dream of experiencing something as outrageous as a life-sized V-Drop track set, and today it became reality,” said Tanner Foust, Team Hot Wheels Yellow Driver. “There’s a lot that goes into being on Team Hot Wheels and the training and testing leading up to the jump gave me the confidence needed to push the mechanical and mental limits of the challenge and land the world-record title.”

 

 

Mystery metal “not from an aircraft” falls in Mass.

9 Dec

As the amount of space junk in orbit increases, falls of metal like this seem less mysterious. However, the FAA has determined the metal did NOT come a spacecraft. So what is it and where did it come from?

It seems that even though the FAA gets involved in “metal hunk fall from the sky stories” not often do their determination of the origin get much publicity. Please see the FALLS category for more stories about things that fell.

Click an image to enlarge.

Image www.wickedlocal.com

 

Image www.wickedlocal.com

Mysterious debris crashes through ceiling of Plymouth business: MyFoxBOSTON.com

UPDATE: Mysterious metal cylinder crashes through Plymouth warehouse roof
By Rich Harbert | Wicked Local Plymouth | Dec 02, 2011

PLYMOUTH —Employees of a local furniture business scrambled to make roof repairs and buy lottery tickets Thursday after a chuck of metal harmlessly crashed through the roof of their offices.

The cylindrically shaped piece of solid steel tore a hole through both the roof and ceiling panels of Michael’s Wholesale Furniture Distributors in Camelot Industrial Park sometime Wednesday or Thursday.

A company employee found the three- to five-pound chunk of metal lying amid broken ceiling tiles on the floor of a storage room early Thursday afternoon.

“He just happened to go in and all the ceiling tiles were blown out. It came right through the ceiling and was lying right on the floor,” Michael Facchini, owner of the import furniture business on Mary B Way, said. “We’re lucky no one got clunked on the head. It would have hurt…I’ll have to play the lottery tonight.”

(more…)

Mythbusters cannonball ‘myth-fires’

8 Dec

Whoops. This could have very easily killed or injured someone. I am glad they will not be airing the footage.

‘MythBusters’ hosts: Sorry about that cannonball
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer | San Francisco Chronicle | December 8, 2011

The special-effects gurus who host the television show “MythBusters” were cast Wednesday in an ignominious role: visiting a home on a quiet street in Dublin and apologizing to a family for firing a 30-pound cannonball through their front door a day earlier.

“Come in,” said Hitha Shetty, 39, ushering show hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage across a floor still speckled with paint and plaster.

Behind Shetty was damage more likely to be found on a pirate ship than a two-story tract home. A round hole scarred an interior wall and, beyond that, another hole showed where the cannonball had exited the upstairs master bedroom as Shetty’s wife, Seema, napped with the couple’s 2-year-old son.

After assuring Shetty, his two children, his wife and her parents that they would never again blast a home with heavy ordnance, Hyneman and Savage said the incident was the worst thing that had happened during thousands of experiments over eight years on the Discovery Channel show.

They also promised they wouldn’t air the footage they had filmed of the near-catastrophic cannon shot.

(more…)

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →