The mystery of the ‘haunted’ swing.
October 26, 2007
Argentinians have been spooked by a mysterious playground swing that rocks backwards and fowards for up to 10 days without being touched.
Police and local families of in the north-eastern town of Firmat believe that the playground must be haunted.
In an attempt to explain the swing’s mysterious movement, police called in physics professors. But even they have been unable to explain the why the swing keeps moving.
Teacher Maria de Silva Agustina said one child had nicknamed the area the “Blair Witch Playground”, after the 1999 cult horror film.
Yes indeed.
Well, if you watch the video below, you too can see the Blair Witch Playground in action.
Got wind?
Mama Mia! No Pasta for You?
September 3, 2007
Consumer advocacy groups in Italy are urging Italians to protest rising food costs with a one day pasta boycott.
Boycott groups are urging all Italians to forgo all forms of pasta on September 13 to demonstrate displeasure over pasta prices soaring 30 percent, with organisers saying the average Italian family will spend nearly $1,500 more on food this year compared to 2006.
“Giving up pasta for the day will be a symbolic gesture,” said a spokesman for the consumer groups behind the strike. “Italians should not buy any pasta that day, and try their best not to eat it at home.”
Most Italians eat pasta at least once a day, and consume around 54 kilograms over the course of the year.
Emergency stands offering free bread and milk will be set up in all major Italian cities for those in need of carbohydrates.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the strike is unnecessary.
“There is no justification for the alarms over price rises,” he said, adding prices “are in some cases going down substantially.”
Hack Me! iPhone Nerd Swaps It For Car.
August 29, 2007
Hard work pays off…. when you are a nerd.
When I was 17…..
Some computer hackers go to jail for a very long time, some get hired by major technology corporations and make millions, while others go to jail and then get hired by major technology corporations, and make millions.
But for 17-year-old whiz kid George Hotz (remember that name), hacking the new Apple iPhone device so it could be used on a non AT&T network connection, has seen him land a brand new, “sweet Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones,” the unlikely celebrity boasted on his blogspot page Saturday.
Yes, that’s a 350Z
And mind the French, but f*#k me people! This kid looks like he’s going to have one hell of a future.
Not only has young George made headlines on TV news programs, radio, magazine, online news, etc across the globe the past few days (just read the comments from around the world on his blog), he now has gigs working as a consultant for major communications companies. Not forgetting to mention all the time he has spent fielding interviews from journalists calling from Prague to Port-au-Prince.
George, like all good nerds should be doing, spent ”most of the summer” indoors with some online pals working out how to crack open the exclusive iphone connection, before heading to college at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. He posted a ‘ten easy steps guide’ on his blog, so you too can do away with the dictatorial wrath of AT&T.
Hard Jobs…..
The job took 500 hours, or about eight hours a day since the IPhone’s June 29 launch.
When asked by a local journalist, when moving into his college dorm, why he wanted to crack the i code, Hotz explained in some uber cool 2000’s style dialect.
“It was a cool phone I saw it on the commercials I was like yo! They show the skate boarding dog. I want to make my phone show the skate boarding dog. But I have T-Mobile and my parents didn’t want to pay for it and so I cracked the iPhone.”
The deal to exchange the hacked phone was made with Terry Daidone, the co-founder of CertiCell, most likely as a publicity stunt. A fine job he has done indeed.
Much to our disappointment, the company is not planning on commercialising George’s discovery.
Party poopers.
Good luck to you George, you aren’t going to need it.
Just thow it!
Meanwhile in other mobile/cell phone news……
On the same day that our boy George was swapping his phone for a new Nissan, the World Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship were being held in the spiritual home of mobile technology, Finland, in a contest that reflects “people’s love-hate relationship with the mobile phone.”
Every August for the last 8 years contestants, athletes if you will, from around the planet have descended on the little town of Nyslott to test their skills in the categories of distance and freestyle.
It was an all local affair with engineer Tommi Huotari taking the gold medal by projecting his device 89.62 metres in the men’s, with the silver going to another local Kia Paajanen at 76.68 meters and Mikko Haikala went 3rd with a competitive 73.36meters.
Tommi had no past training in phone throwing, preferring the more civilised sporting spectacle of potato throwing.
“I have never thrown a phone before but have been participating in potato-throwing … surprisingly, a potato flies further. I am sure everyone would like to throw their phone away every once in a while.”
Finland also claimed the women’s crown, with world record holder Eija Laakso clocking up 44.49 metres.
In the freestyle category, a non Fin managed to take a medal.
Tasty Taco Cohen used acrobatics and juggling in his performance which was judged on aesthetics and artistic impression. The 19-year-old told media that years of playing with his balls had equipped him with the means to win the category honour.
“Juggling I have done for many years with balls. (But) these are irregular shapes and weights, it is difficult.”
Rumour has it that the IOC is thinking of including Phone throwing as a demonstration sport at the 2050 Summer Games.
See all the results and excitement from the Championships at the web site here.
Or……
Check out some of the fun from the 2005 Championships, those 2005 phones are bricks compared to those of 2007…
This all gets me wondering….wouldn’t it be more therapeutic to just smash the living shit out of the phones?
I guess that’s for an angrier day…..
Crazy Video: Watch A Python Slowly Devour a Rat!
August 24, 2007
Friday!
You know what that means?
……………………..
The Crazy News: Crazy Video of the Week!
Yeahhh….
They get big, baby!
This snake is a Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), the longest known snake speices.
Reticulated pythons can make great and extremely rewarding captives, but the keeper should have previous experience with large pythons to help ensure safety to both animal and keeper.
They do not attack humans by nature, but will bite and possibly constrict if they feel threatened or mistake a hand for food. While not venomous, large pythons can inflict very serious injuries, sometimes requiring stitches.
This species of snake is one of the few that have documented, but not verified, cases of eating people in the wild.
