Truth in Advertizing

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Cereal box spectrometer

Open a Beer Bottle with a Ring

Don't let a misplaced bottle opener stand between you and a delicious beverage. If you find yourself with well-chilled bottle of beer but painfully without a proper bottle opener, don't despair. Bottled beverage-lovers at wikiHow have put together a detailed guide for getting that cap off with nothing more than a ring and your gritty determination. Check out the following video to see the magic in action:

New Apple Laptop With No Keyboard

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Top 10: Widely Believed Myths

http://www.askmen.com

No.10 - Pigeons blow up if you feed them uncooked rice
Wedding guests are often told to refrain from throwing uncooked rice because of the explosive consequences that it can have on birds, especially pigeons. Ann Landers and The Simpsons both warned us about it, so it must be true. If rice hurts their insides, then birds are pretty dumb. Did you know that birds eat rice grains during the cold months to maintain a healthy body mass? No bird explosions due to rice have ever been documented. The fact is that birds don't drink enough water to cause any significant stomach swelling due to rice. The no-rice wedding rule really exists to keep guests from taking a tumble.

No.09 - Napoleon was short
Napoleon’s nickname may have been "Le Petit Caporal," drawings may depict him standing among much taller soldiers and he may have had an inferiority condition named after him (the Napoleon complex), but the truth is Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't short. Napoleon's height was measured in French feet, which listed him as being 5 foot 2 inches. That's short, but using the Imperial system, Napoleon stood at 5 foot 6 inches, an average height for men in his country. What about the nickname? Napoleon was given the "Petit" tag because of his friendly and respectful nature toward his soldiers; and since most of them were above 6-feet tall, that's why he seemed small by comparison.

No.08 - If you shave your hair, it returns thicker and faster
Despite studies from the 1920s showing the opposite, many men believe that shaving, waxing and cutting hair can accelerate its growth and that the hair will return thicker and darker. In reality, it's one big special effect. For one thing, the hair that we touch, see and style isn't alive. Living hair lies under the skin and scalp, so cutting it won't change the texture or speed that it grows. The fact is you're merely seeing your hair at a different stage. Cutting your hair doesn't change the color either: Since the sun naturally lightens hair, new growth looks darker, but it all evens out in the end.

No.07 - The Salem witches were burned
In February of 1692, an investigation was launched into alleged witchcraft among citizens in colonial Massachusetts. Over the next year, some 150 people were arrested and 20 of those convicted were executed. Contrary to popular belief, however, the accused “witches” were not burned. While some European laws encouraged burning after death as a way to "cleanse" witchcraft, it was forbidden in Massachusetts -- this ruling was because the judicial system was operating under English law. As a result, the "witches" all died through hanging, except for one: Giles Corey, who was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea.

No.06 - Space has no gravity
Since astronauts appear to be "weightless" in space, there is an assumption that space is a place with zero gravity. While there is less gravity in space, the idea that there is none is factually incorrect. There isn't just gravity on Earth, on the moon or even on the sun -- it's all around us. Gravity is responsible for keeping our feet planted on the ground and it's also the way that planets and satellites maintain an orbit. The reason why space allows humans to be weightless is because they are gravitating toward the Earth at the same rate as their ships.

No.05 - Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake"
“S’ils n’ont plus de pain, qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” - Marie Antoinette? Translated to "If they have no bread, let them eat [cake]," this cruel statement is mistakenly linked to Queen Marie Antoinette. As evidence of its true origin, historians point to two other sources instead: One is 18th-century author Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote of an arrogant princess suggesting brioche for the poor if they didn't have bread. The other potential source for the quote is Marie-Therese of Spain, who allegedly uttered the quote.

No.04 - The only visible man-made structure from space is the Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is one of Earth's architectural wonders. Historians like Richard Halliburton boldly proclaimed that it could be seen from the moon. NASA's Lunar launch proved Halliburton wrong, but the belief remains that from a close orbit, the Great Wall is the only man-made structure visible on Earth. Ironically, the Great Wall isn't very easy to spot from a close orbit of 180 miles -- it's large enough, but its colors don't distinguish it from its natural surroundings. Furthermore, astronaut descriptions and photographs have shown that airports and highways can be seen from orbit as well.

No.03 - The inventor of the lightbulb was Thomas Edison
Calling Thomas Edison the "inventor" of the lightbulb is false. Although instrumental in developing a commercially successful lightbulb, he did not create it. A closer examination takes us to 1809, when Englishman Humphry Davy created an arc lamp. A decade later, Warren De la Rue built the first sealed lightbulb and in 1840, William Robert Grove lit an entire room of lamps. Unfortunately, the products were expensive with questionable durability. Eight scientists and three patents later, Edison expanded on these ideas to create a longer-lasting, cheaper product. The rest is history, but it wasn't Edison's to begin with.

No.02 - Humans only use 10% their brains
In the 1800s, scientists debated the overall function of the brain. Out of these debates, William James later wrote about humans only using a small percentage of their brains and the 10% myth was born. Although simple tasks require specific brain areas, anything complicated requires far more than 10% of the brain; magnetic imaging has documented this and scientists are basically in agreement about brain functions. Unfortunately, many psychics still use the 10% myth to promote the idea that they are using more brain power than others. Psychics might be intrinsically connected to some topics, but brain science isn't one of them.

No.01 - Men think about sex every seven seconds
The belief persists that a new sexual thought enters the male mind every seven seconds. While this statement is commonly mentioned, where science is concerned, it has no factual basis. Many people point to Alfred Kinsey as the origin of this "fact," but even he didn't get that specific. Kinsey concluded in one study that 97% of men thought about sex between a few times a day and a few times per month, with 54% falling into the daily category. While we can debate whether men are more sexually driven than women, the "seven-second" rule is pure fiction.

http://www.snopes.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com
http://news.softpedia.com
http://www.associatedcontent.com
http://wiki.answers.com
http://blogcritics.org
http://listverse.com
http://departments.kings.edu
http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu
http://invsee.asu.edu
http://www.hereisthecity.com

WTF? Origins of Five Popular Web 2.0 Terms

Written by Marshall Kirkpatrick / January 8, 2009 5:45 PM / 40 Comments « Prior Post Next Post »

Web 2.0 is pretty cool - so cool in fact that it's got its own buzzwords and lingo that not everybody knows. Everybody has a lot to gain from participation in this new cultural phenomenon, though, so there's no reason why everyone shouldn't know the background on the lingo. We did a little research just to cover our own bases! We thought we'd share it with you.

Think you know where catchwords like FTW and Fail! came from? Think you know who came up with the phrase Web 2.0? Do you know what the first Rickrolled link claimed to be? We did some hunting around to find out - below are our best ideas for the history of these and other popular terms around the web these days.

Update: Note that a number of commenters have said we got some of these things wrong, or that they aren't really "web 2.0" terms. The conversation in comments here is probably at least as informative as the post itself (though not always very nice!), so check it out too.

FTW
FTW is most commonly understood as standing for "For the Win!" The Urban Dictionary says it entered popular culture via the TV show Hollywood Squares. The show featured two contestants playing a trivia based tic-tac-toe game where the squares had celebrities siting in them who "helped" answer the questions. The final question to complete the tic-tac-toe was asked "for the win..." The show ran from 1966 through 1981 but there were several attempts to revive it.

Fail!
Now a one word sentence primarily used to mock, sometimes with a touch of sympathy, the prominent use of the word "Fail" is said to derive from 1998 arcade game Blazing Star. According to an article from this Fall in Slate, "its staying power comes from its wonderfully terrible Japanese-to-English translations. If you beat a level, the screen flashes with the words: 'You beat it! Your skill is great!' If you lose, you are mocked: 'You fail it! Your skill is not enough! See you next time! Bye bye!'" See also the relatively new FailBlog.org, a daily collection of unintentionally funny images and videos with very simple captions.

Rickroll
From the consistently obscene fringe message board 4chan to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Who would have ever thought a joke like this would go so far? According to the Wikipedia entry on the phenomenon, the practice of telling someone you're linking to one thing and then linking instead to the Rick Astley video Never Going to Give You Up was originally based on a practice known as Duckrolling. The link would claim to be to a news item or some other thing but would instead take visitors to a web page containing a photoshopped picture of a duck on wheels. Hey look, it's a duck...with wheels. The first Rickroll ever, Wikipedia dutifully reports, was a May 2007 link on 4chan that claimed to be to a mirror copy of the original trailer for the game Grand Theft Auto IV, which was otherwise unavailable.

Eating Our Own Dogfood
You often hear about technology companies "eating their own dogfood," which means using their own software to get work done. According to the book Inside Out: Microsoft in Our Own Words, the phrase came from Microsoft's Paul Maritz. Maritz had seen an Alpo dog food commercial where actor Lorne Greene told viewers that Alpo was so good he...fed it to his own dogs! Neither Greene nor Maritz apparently ate dogfood themselves, but Maritz did use the phrase in an email calling for Microsoft workers to use their own products more.

Web 2.0
Many people think that Tim O'Reilly, book publisher and founder of the Web 2.0 Conference, coined the term Web 2.0. Last month O'Reilly mentioned in a PBS Science radio interview, though, that some one who worked for him actually came up with the phrase to articulate some concepts the O'Reilly himself had been discussing. We did a little hunting around and got to what's apparently the truth. More than 3 years ago Tim wrote an article titled What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software where he says that it was O'Reilly VP Dale Dougherty who came up with the moniker in early 2004. (Photo of Dougherty, left, by David A. Mellis) How many of you got that trivia question right? At the time Dougherty was the Editor and Publisher of O'Reilly's Make magazine, so he was no stranger to invention.


So there you go. Now you don't have to be a wall flower at parties any more, for fear of not knowing the history of these five terms. Or are the conclusions we've drawn here incorrect? If you've got reason to believe so...speak up now!

Handheld Symphony...

Swimming with Tigers

I think that is pretty much all that needs to be said... lol...

Well if you really want to *read* the article you can do that here...

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

10 Things You Should Never Say to a Porn Star

Jan 2nd 2009
By Emily McCombs

It's AVN season, the time when porn stars dress up in their finest PVC attire and compete for awards in categories such "Best All-Girl 3-Way Sex Scene." And for those lucky enough to be attending the AVN awards on January 10th in Las Vegas, it's also the time when porn stars leap out of the DVD player and come to life to pose for pictures and sign your time-worn copy of "Jenna Loves Rocco."

Luckily, adult entertainer and Wicked Girl Stormy Daniels (who is nominated for both "Best Supporting Actress" and "Crossover Star of the Year") was kind enough to give us some pointers on how to keep your foot out of your mouth when faced with your favorite porn stars. Read on to find out 10 things you should never say to a porn star.

10. You're too pretty to do porn. (So, you're saying you would prefer to watch ugly people f*ck?)

9. Your vagina must be really worn out. (Mine isn't nearly as bad as your mother's after pushing such a giant idiot like you out of it.)

8. I would never watch porn. I think it is degrading to women. (Then how did you know my name? And my measurements? And my astrological sign? And my birthdate?)

7. How do I get my girlfriend/wife to do ________? (Ask her, not me. By the way, talking to me in the first place is not helping your cause.)

6. Wow! You're so much prettier/younger/thinner in your photos. (Obviously your mother didn't teach you anything and it is called Photoshop.)

5. I pleasured myself to you 10 times this week! (OK, I didn't need to know precisely how pathetic you are. And stop trying to shake my hand. I now unfortunately know exactly where it has been.)

4. I could do porn. (No, you couldn't. If you could, you already would be ... and no, I will NOT audition you!)

3. Are those yours? (Well, I paid for them.)

2. Do you think you are going to hell? (Discussing religion with a porn star will get you as far as discussing porn with your grandmother ... just don't try it.)

1. I wanna take you out on a "real" date. ( I did not realize all my other ones were imaginary.)

Probably the scariest thing ever...

EVER!!!!

World's First Computer Rebooted After 2,000 Years

Extra Reading

Coolest phone charger ever!

From home, to the car, to the office, the 2-in-1 Wall & Car Charger keeps your iPod or iPhone charged no matter your location. Designed for both wall and car sockets, the charger combines function and economy with dependability.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ten Friday the 13th Facts and Theories

01. It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million (U.S.) is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they would normally do.

02. No historical date has been verifiably identified as the origin of the superstition. Before the 20th century, although there is evidence that the number 13 was considered unlucky, and Friday was considered unlucky; there was no link between them.

03. The first documented mention of a “Friday the 13th” is generally listed as occurring in the early 1900’s.

04. A Friday occurring on the 13th day of any month is considered to be a day of bad luck in English, German, Polish and Portuguese-speaking cultures around the globe.

05. Many people are so paralyzed by fear that they are simply unable to get out of bed when Friday the 13th rolls around. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute estimates that more than 17 million people are affected by a fear of this day.

06. The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.

07. Every year has at least one, and at most three Fridays the 13th, with 48 occurrences in 28 years an average of 1.7 times per year. The reason, this is the evidence: twenty-eight years have 336 months and 336 also equals seven times forty-eight.

08. A study published in The British Medical Journal (1993) has shown that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Friday the 13ths.

09. Friday the 13th is also known as “Dooms day” all around the world.

10. Many popular stories exist about the origin of the concept: The popular painting of the Last Supper, with stories that Judas numbered among the thirteen guests (Jesus plus his 12 apostles), and that the Crucifixion of Jesus occurred Friday. The Knights Templar is another popular theory: recently offered up as historical fact in the novel The Da Vinci Code, holds that it came about not as the result of a convergence, but a catastrophe, a single historical event that happened nearly 700 years ago.

Colbert Report: The WristStrong Saga

Segway's new RMP!

Segway's new RMP, debuting at RoboBusiness - there isn't any information available about it other than it "might" cost up to $50k and it can move in any direction (omnidirectional wheels, but the term was hyperdirectional?). It uses the same parts that a Segway uses but just doubled, it can haul up to 400 lbs. The engineer was going to load the firmware on for demos later, but I took some video of video they had on a screen, it's creepy cool for sure.

Extra Reading

15-Year Old Cartoon Predicts the Future

Brad Pitt & Vin Diesel in 'Thundercats'

Hollywood loves taking cheesy kids cartoons from the 80s and remaking them as Epic Blockbusters. What this incredibly painstaking and well put-together fan-made video presupposes is, why not Thundercats?

Auto part chess set

Old and broken down auto parts are nothing more than trash for some, but for people like Armando Ramírez they are no less than treasure. The artist transforms these objects into sleek, black and silver chess sets. The found objects are rolled into a specially crafted die machine that transforms them into horses, pawns and everything that you see on a chess set. To complete the chessboard Armando uses everything from screws and bearings to a car’s electrical system. The final product is not even polished to keep it in its distinct appearance. The chess set is perfect to be gifted to any eco-minded chess lover.

How Cereal Transformed American Culture

by Ian Lender

More than a century ago, Christian fundamentalists invented cereal to promote a healthy lifestyle free of sin. Little did they know, their creation would eventually be used to promote everything from radio and cartoons to Mr. T and tooth decay.

Read the rest of this awesome article here.

Spanking the Wii-Mote

Playing tennis on your Wii with a good looking friend can get you in a certain mood. Just be careful what you do with your Wii remote controller...

Beware of the Dog House

Kicked out of a pizza place...

Mario Finally Rescues The Princess…

The 25 Meanest Things Ever Said by Men

1. "Michael Jackson's album was only called Bad because there wasn't enough room on the sleeve for Pathetic."
--- Prince

2. "He looks like a dwarf who's been dipped in a bucket of pubic hair."
--- Boy George, on Prince

3. "He couldn't ad-lib a fart after a baked-bean dinner."
--- Johnny Carson, on Chevy Chase

4. "All that Hubert needs over there is a gal to answer the phone and a pencil with an eraser on it."
--- Lyndon Johnson, on Hubert Humphrey, his vice president

5. "The only reason so many people attended his funeral was they wanted to make sure he was dead."
--- Samuel Goldwyn, on Louis B. Mayer

6. "People shouldn't be treated like objects. They aren't that valuable."
--- P.J. O'Rourke

7. "Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence--those are the three pillars of Western prosperity."
--- Aldous Huxley

8. "The only thing dumber than a pitcher is two pitchers."
--- Ted Williams

9. "I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with 'Guess' on it. I said, 'Thyroid problem?'"
--- Emo Philips

10. "He has so many fishhooks in his nose, he looks like a piece of bait."
--- Bob Costas, on Dennis Rodman

11. "If you're going to spit at me, make sure you hit me in the face. Don't be wasting my time."
--- Dennis Rodman

12. "If I had a hammer, I'd use it on Peter, Paul, and Mary."
--- Howard Rosenberg

13. "Women's intuition is the result of millions of years of not thinking."
--- Rupert Hughes

14. "He walks as if he had fouled his small clothes and looks as if he smelt it."
--- Christopher Smart, on the poet Thomas Gray

15. "I couldn't warm to him even if I was cremated next to him."
--- Keith Richards, on Chuck Berry

16. "I'm glad I've given up drugs and alcohol. It would be awful to be like Keith Richards. He's pathetic. It's like a monkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young."
--- Elton John

17. "One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged."
--- Heinrich Heine

18. "She not only kept her figure, she's added so much to it."
--- Bob Fosse

19. "Love is two minutes, 52 seconds of squishing noises."
--- Johnny Rotten

20. "Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses."
--- H.L. Mencken

21. "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper."
--- Friedrich Nietzsche

22. "You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the navel of a fruit fly, and still have room enough for three caraway seeds and a producer's heart."
--- Fred Allen

23. "Life is a cement trampoline."
--- Howard Nordberg

24. "He would sell you a rat's asshole for a wedding ring."
--- Tom Waits, on singer/songwriter Chuck E. Weiss

25. "Start every day with a smile and get it over with."
--- W.C. Fields

Source

Top Ten Reasons Not To Buy A Hummer

Hummers may look cool on the outside. They might even appear to be a symbol of patriotism and solidarity with our troops in Iraq. But don’t let appearances fool you. Peer beneath the surface and you’ll find a host of reasons why the Hummer... is a bummer.

01. The Gas Mileage Alone Will Kill You

02. The Hummer Receives More Complaints Than Any Other Car

03. Oil Addiction Leads to War

04. They Are Killers on the Road

05. Soldiers Are Dying In Them

06. The Tax Break Is Unfair…and Unpatriotic

07. People Won’t Like You

08. Mother Earth Won’t Like You

09. Will You Really Survive a Falling Asteroid?

10. There Are MUCH Better Deals

Read the full article for more...

Also check out the submissions on this awesome website...