Month: August 2007

Bloomberg.com: Politics

Bloomberg.com: Politics:
Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers (Update3)
By Tony Capaccio

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) — A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.

The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina — twin sisters — exploit

FUCKERS!

PISS-SCREEN.COM — // An interactive urinary experience – not to be mistaken with the Wii

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PISS-SCREEN.COM — // An interactive urinary experience – not to be mistaken with the Wii:
The Brief

Encourage people to take a taxi home with Frankfurt Taxi Services after having a few drinks, rather than get behind the wheel of their own car.

The Challenge

How to capture the inebriated attention of any potential drunk drivers? Well, where do most people go when they’re drunk? (Apart from the bar, that is. Or maybe for a kebab.) They go to the toilet. As such, we thought this would be the perfect medium to reach our target audience in a fresh and impactful way.

Our Solution

The Piss-Screen – a pressure-sensitive inlay set within urinals, enabling users to play while they pee. We installed this newfangled creation in male restrooms across Frankfurt, teaming up with a variety of bars, clubs and cafés. The game itself was displayed on a screen above each urinal, and would automatically start as soon as someone began to pee. The player could then control the car whilst relieving himself – if they wanted th

Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Airline passenger had monkey under his hat

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Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Airline passenger had monkey under his hat:
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 08, 2007

Airline passenger had monkey under his hat
A man was questioned by US border authorities after he smuggled a monkey onto an aeroplane by hiding the animal under his hat.

On a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to New York’s LaGuardia airport, people around the man noticed that a marmoset – a fist-sized animal which normally lives in forest and eats fruit and insects – had emerged from underneath his hat and was perching on her ponytail, according to Alison Russell, a Spirit Airlines spokeswoman.

The man’s journey had begun in Lima, Peru.

“Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him,” Russell said. The monkey spent the remainder of the flight in the man’s seat and behaved well, said Ms Russell.

She did not know how the monkey escaped detection in Lima and during the man’s several-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale.

Port Authority police, said the passenger wa

Apple event tomorrow at 10:00AM PDT / 1:00PM EDT, set your alarms

Apple event tomorrow at 10:00AM PDT / 1:00PM EDT, set your alarms:

It’s been a solid two months since our last run-in with Apple: WWDC 2007, the last big press gathering before the iPhone launch. So here we are, late summer heading quickly into fall, ready to take on whatever new Mac products Apple’s prepping to announce tomorrow at its intimate Town Hall meeting in Cupertino. Turn on and tune in at your local time (see listings below) for our usual wall to wall live event coverage. See you there!

Go here and bookmark this page, it’s where the action happens Tuesday morning.

7:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
1:00PM – Eastern
5:00PM – GMT
6:00PM – London
7:00PM – Paris
2:00AM – Tokyo (August 8th)

Could black holes be portals to other universes? – space – 27 April 2007 – New Scientist Space

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Could black holes be portals to other universes? – space – 27 April 2007 – New Scientist Space:
Wormhole study abstract

The objects scientists think are black holes could instead be wormholes leading to other universes, a new study says. If so, it would help resolve a quantum conundrum known as the black hole information paradox, but critics say it would also raise new problems, such as how the wormholes would form in the first place.

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate – Times Online

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China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate – Times Online:
From The Times
August 4, 2007
China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

Jane Macartney in Beijing
Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.

“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1.

The 14-part regulation issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influen

Senator pushes for expansion of “V-chip” video censorship technology

Senator pushes for expansion of “V-chip” video censorship technology:

The Democratic Senator for Arkansas — Mark Pryor is his name — wants to expand on the “V-chip” video content blocking program, and create a tracking system that could enable parents to censor content on platforms including TV, DVD, and the internet. A new bill proposed by Senator Pryor calls for the FCC to look into ways of blocking “indecent and objectionable programming, as determined by the parent” on basically all platforms capable of displaying images. As always, the devil is in the details: how exactly the FCC is going to figure out a method for precisely tracking obscenities on a “platform blind” basis remains to be seen, and the issue of classification of content is always sure to cause controversy. What politicos like Pryor always seem to miss is the fact that parental filters are already in place, albeit in messy meatspace form.

 

ABC News: Does Stiff Pot Policy Give Meth Free Ride?

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ABC News: Does Stiff Pot Policy Give Meth Free Ride?:
Is the Nation’s Marijuana Policy Misguided?
Critics Contend the Government Is Fighting Pot at the Expense of Battling Meth

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent hands a freshly-pulled marijuana plant off to another law enforcement officer as they work to clear a patch of the weed near Entiant, Wash., Sept. 20, 2005. (Elaine Thompson/ AP Photo )

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Aug. 1, 2007
Since the Marijuana Tax Act — the first anti-marijuana federal law — was signed by President Roosevelt 70 years ago Thursday, the debate over the drug’s effects, dangers and criminalization has raged unabated.

The Bush administration has made marijuana its prime target in the war on drugs, spending billions of dollars on education camp