Have you ever seen a cheerful elephant?

Get rid of pain from stings and bites by removing the venom with The Extractor. via cool tools

New bra has built in heart rate monitor. via wired gadgetlab

ABC News reported today that a confidential source inside the government told them to replace their "cell phones, quick." It appears that our free and democratically elected government has decided that 1984 makes a great guide for governing. Surprisingly, many Americans are not alarmed. William Gibson notes in a recent and rare interview, "I think it's [the X-Files, Nixon wiretapping, science fiction]. I think it's predicated in our delirious sense of what's been happening to us as a species for the past 100 years. During the Cold War it was almost comforting to believe that the CIA was reading everything..." Sadly, these actions are largely unprecidented. This is because technology never before made it so easy for the government to spy on you. Combine this revelation with the collusion with credit card companies, media conglomerates using public funds to terrorize their own customers, RFID tags tracking every purchase and every item you carry into any building and mounting coverups and the picture becomes very clear that our government is no longer OUR government. While we have had poor leaders in the past, there has never been such a successful coordinated attack on the Constitution as there is today. At least there are a few folks paying attention.

And in other news, ionic purifiers are neither ionic nor purifying...discuss.

You're only as good as you think you are.

I have seen the future and... the future looks just like the past, about 500 years ago. Scientists, biologists, engineers and businessmen have determined that switchgrass can be used to make cellulose based ethanol. If you're not aware, switchgrass is the plant that has covered most of the Great Plains and Central Canada since the last Ice Age. It's what the American Bison liked to eat before we decided to use them as target practice and move all our unwanted Indians onto their land. And switchgrass, when not being eaten, or ripped out by farmers, will grow to the asstonishing heights of six to eight feet. Also, switchgrass, unlike the uber-lobbiest ADM favorite - corn, doesn't require lots of fertilizer made from coal or natural gas to grow. It also has an energy output that is 343% higher than corn based ethanol. Switchgrass will grow anywhere there's a little dirt and an occaisional rain. It's also perennial so it never has to be planted again. Hay machinery can be used to harvest it. But don't take my word on it. Goldman Sachs believes in it too, to the tune of $27 million. This news, could not come at a better time.

Is this a prelude to the coming Atlantic hurricane season? I really would not want to meet up with this storm.

WTF?!?

One of the frustrating things about Super Glue is that it is pretty much a one use product. Even with the cap on, it dries out in a matter of days. Kevin Kelly featured this epoxy on his Cool Tools site that looks like a better solution for a lot of repairs. You can even handle it with your bare fingers during the prep! It doesn't drip everywhere. And it stays good until you mix it up!

What's in a name? Birmingham City Stages new name reads like a state bar membership list.

Could this be the new iPod video?

The Simpsons live action intro...

If you want to solve a problem, stop thinking.

via futurismic

This article requires some mental acrobatics, but is notheless very cool. Scientists have been able to solve an algorithm with a quantum computer without running it through the computer. The mere presence of the algorithm effectively answered it. "In a sense, it is the possibility that the algorithm could run which prevents the algorithm from running." It has been a theorized part of quantum mechanics for a long time, but is really wild to have it actually happen. Computing over the next 20 years is really going to get weird. The possibilities are limitless...I mean really limitless.

Since 1999 the CIA has been reclassifying thousands of documents. While some of the documents might be of concern for national security, many are just embarrassing to the intelligence community. A document from 1949 reveals that it was believed that the Soviet nuclear program was poor at best. Six months later they exploded their first atomic bomb. But this is not justification for withdrawl. In fact, the executive order 12958 amended by Bush explicitly states that "no … information shall be classified in order to …. prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency." Meanwhile thousands of documents on sabotage and making chemical weapons remain declassified. Take a look for yourself, while you still can. via /.

This is a great documentary from Frontline about the effects meth has on America. While I am not a big proponent of the drug wars, as meth use spreads the affect on society will be greater than all of Al Qaeda's work. Meth not only destroys the body, but also destroys the soul. It leaves users a hollow shell of their former selves. I cannot see how the current administration can view all illicit drugs equally as justifiable, when this one drug can singly reverse a decade crime reduction in America. And while our country continues to debate the issues of illegal immigration of Mexicans into the U.S., tons of meth streams across our largely unpatrolled borders. Of course all of this could be stopped if the nine factories that make ephedrine and pseudoephedrine would start placing controls over distribution.

In honor of Kyoto Protocol Day we Americans should use this day to crap on the rest of the world! Today is a good day to change your oil and pour the remnants down the nearest storm drain. Have an old air conditioner? Take a shotgun to that compressor! The CFCs will only shorten your tanning time! But ideally today should be spent driving solo in an extremely large vehicle through bumper to bumper traffic. Because, as we all know, CO2 makes the maticulously manicured chemical-laden grass grow. God gave us every right to screw it up as much as want! Besides, the quicker we screw things up, the quicker Jesus will come back and take the righteous to heaven. Are you Rapture Ready? God Bless America!

How Sweet! Who said matches made in heaven don't exist. Scorpion Queen marries Centipede King.

There are people of great power in this country that yearn for the good ole days of yesteryear when men were men, women were sex objects and children were of the damned.