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‘offtopic’ Archives
The Biosphere 2 “starvation diet”
In 1992, eight individuals entered the "Biosphere 2" in the Arizona desert where they lived for two years. The point was to study interactions inside a closed ecological system. The success of the "planet in a bottle" experiment was, er, debatable. But there are a slew of fascinating stories of what happened inside. Christopher Turner, author of [...]
October 31st is Jesusween
Kids around the nation will be happy to hear that Jesusween celebrators plan keep their candy for themselves and instead "give out Bibles and Christian gifts -- in a friendly way!" on October 31.
The Mystery of Wrinkly-When-Wet Fingers, Solved
Now my question is why in the world is theses scientist concern with this topic to pull themselves away from real concerns. Are these people being governmentally funded? Mystery of the century, you guys. No, the millenium. All times. A new paper in the journal Brain, Behavior and Evolution has a new answer to the eternal question: why do our [...]
Zippos of the Vietnam War
Air & Space has a gallery of Zippo lighters sold during the Vietnam War at PX stores and customized for US soldiers by village artisans. From Air & Space... "Snoopy the Flying Ace replaced Bugs Bunny of World War II nose art fame as the most popular cartoon character of the conflict," writes (Sherry Buchanan, author of Vietnam Zippos). [...]
“Rude” gestalt optical illusions
Look closely. This isn't your dad's rabbit-duck illusion. (more...)
Two AI chatBots attempt to have a conversation with each other
Cornell Creative Machines Lab wanted to see what would happen if two Cleverbot AI ChatBots had a conversation with each other. I think I've just seen the beginning of the end.
Trollface restaurant
Yesterday I spotted Bisou, a new Libyan restaurant, which opened earlier this year here in Pittsburgh. At Reddit, Val_Holla reports that the proprietor claims no knowledge of his logo's origin, which may in turn indicate that he is a master troll. Here is the menu.
How Did Greek Yogurt Get So Popular?
American tastes are too complex to diagnose conclusively, but analysts think the ascendance of Greek yogurt is a case of conspicuous consumption (literally) led by women in the workplace. One theory holds that rich old women in affluent coastal cities are leading the trend that's making Greek yogurt an aspirational product -- So foreign! So [...]
Why poor people support tax breaks for the rich?
Why do lower middle-class and working class Americans support tax breaks for the rich? New research suggests it might not be about aspirations—i.e., "Maybe I could be rich someday." Instead, says the Economist, people are more concerned with how social programs and wealth distribution might help people worse off than them become better off than [...]
A. Samuels “Livin De Life”
By way of The Basketball Jones comes the debut rap video from Allen Samuels, a 30-plus-year casino host and 50-plus-year awkward white dude who had an epiphany whilst talking to a flamboyant Frenchman and transformed himself into the Baby Boomer Rebecca Black. "Livin De Life" chronicles Samuels’ rise from riches to additional riches and peppers [...]
Watch a man do donuts… In his living room
What could possibly go wrong?
Dunkin Donuts prostitute sting
A 29-year-old woman working at a Dunkin' Donuts in Rockaway Township, New Jersey has been busted for prostitution from behind the counter. According to the AP, the police investigation was codenamed "Extra Sugar." The investigation required that an officer spend a lot of time outside the donut shop. Perhaps eve more time than usual. From the Daily [...]
Skrillex Has a Surprise for You
America's favorite dance-music dynamo, Sonny "Skrillex" Moore, is always moving in fidgety fast-forward, whether musically or otherwise. And the DJ/producer, now preparing for early August gigs at Lollapalooza and HARD Summer 2011, gave us a look at the cryptic trailer for his new venture, tagged "Owsla," also the name of a recent Skrillex tour [...]
Narcosubmarine carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine nabbed in Honduras
With help from the U.S. Navy, authorities in Honduras have recovered 2.7 tons of cocaine from a submarine off the Central American nation’s Caribbean coast. There is more, they say: the boat’s carrying 5 and a half tons, total. AP item... The submarine-like craft is floating about 15 meters (50 feet) under the surface because the crew tried [...]
