Posted August 6, 2009 A tool in China believed drinking petrol would make him a Transformer, and has such 'tarded himself.http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090805/twl-fan-drinks-petrol-to-be-like-transfo-3fd0ae9.html Of all the cool things that the Transformers do, he chose that one. Forget about turning himself into a Truck, or a Jet. Missed a trick there. Also, off topic, but the smell of petrol is wonderful. I love visiting petrol stations...dunno if I'd drink the stuff, though. My head says no. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Also, off topic, but the smell of petrol is wonderful. I love visiting petrol stations...dunno if I'd drink the stuff, though. My head says no. Couldn't agree more, it's the shit. I might not've paid much attention when watching the movies, but was Prime et al. shown downing pints of petrol? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Best headline ever. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2698507.stm For a long time, I've been moaning about how I haven't had faggots for so long, I've forgotten the taste. But I've never done ANYTHIIIING about it. It's a traditional Midlands dish, the yam-yams used to swear by faggots and peas. It's only fitting a yam-yam family are trying to raise its profile. I've got to make myself a faggots, peas and chips tea one day. I have to! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Haha, crowned "The Faggot Family". I laughed so much! They won't get anywhere unless they change the name tbh, it's got too much stigma attached to it now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Notice the article is from 2003, guys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Notice the article is from 2003, guys. Well, they failed then, didn't they? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Notice the article is from 2003, guys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Going back to Hiroshima for a minute; Jamat-E-Islami's protest against America. Interesting, wonder what their response will be (if any). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Both Facebook and Twitter have been DoS attack on the same day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 6, 2009 Yeah, I was well annoyed with not getting on Twitter...and when I say 'well annoyed' I mean minorly inconvenienced. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 7, 2009 Huh, and Kotaku/Gawker Network yesterday. Dun dun dunnnn. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 7, 2009 Both Facebook and Twitter have been DoS attack on the same day. It's clearly MySpace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 7, 2009 Cube made me laugh for the first time today. KUDOS. What about all this stuff about Madeline Mccann and some woman. Crazy stuff considering it really should have been handled at the time of the incident and not a year or two later.............. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 8, 2009 Crows News! A FAMOUS Aesop’s fable about a canny crow with a knowledge of physics is more than just folklore, scientists have shown. Researchers found that rooks, members of the crow family, can use stones to raise the level of water in a container – just like the bird in the tale The Crow And The Pitcher. In the story, written thousands of years ago by the Ethiopian slave Aesop, a thirsty crow finds a pitcher containing too little water for his beak to reach. He solves the problem by throwing pebbles into the pitcher one by one, until the water level rises high enough for him to drink. A similar challenge faced the rooks studied by the appropriately named Cambridge University zoologist Christopher Bird. In a series of tests, the four rooks named Cook, Fry, Connelly and Monroe were offered a tempting treat – a juicy worm floating on the surface of water in a vertical tube. To start with, the worm was out of reach. Videos of the experiments show the birds examining the tube from different angles, appearing to think the problem through. Then the researchers provide a solution in the form of a handful of pebbles. The rooks can be seen picking up the stones and dropping them into the tube to raise the water level and bring the worm within reach. Cook and Fry succeeded straight away, while Connelly and Monroe took two attempts. The birds appeared to estimate how many pebbles were needed from the outset. Rather than try for the worm after each stone was dropped, they waited until the time seemed right. They also selected larger stones over smaller ones, for greater effect. In other experiments, the rooks quickly understood that sawdust cannot be displaced in the same way as water. Rooks and crows both belong to the corvid family. “Corvids are remarkably intelligent, and in many ways rival the great apes in their physical intelligence and ability to solve problems,” said Mr Bird, a PhD student. “This is remarkable considering their brain is so different to the great apes.” One corvid species, the Caledonian crow, is famed for its ability to make and use twig and leaf tools in the wild. However, tool use has never been known in wild rooks. “Wild tool use appears to be dependent on motivation,” said Mr Bird. “Rooks do not use tools in the wild because they do not need to, not because they can’t. They have access to other food that can be acquired without using tools.” Using Tools In Correct Sequence Without Training New experiments by Oxford University scientists reveal that New Caledonian crows can spontaneously use up to three tools in the correct sequence to achieve a goal, something never before observed in non-human animals without explicit training. Sequential tool use has often been interpreted as evidence for advanced cognitive abilities, such as planning and analogical reasoning, but this has never been explicitly examined. The researchers set out to investigate what the crows really understood about the tasks and their own actions with tools. A report of their research appears in the journal PLoS One. In the wild, New Caledonian crows use a range of tool types for extracting invertebrate prey from holes and crevices, and in captivity, they have been shown to make, or select, tools to retrieve food rewards. In previous experiments, the Oxford team reported that a crow (named ‘Betty’) was capable of spontaneously inventing new tool designs according to what was required by the tasks. In all these cases, however, objects were used to act on pieces of food. Using tools to act on non-food objects – for example, to make or retrieve other tools – is considered to be a hallmark of human intelligence, and may have been a crucial step in our evolution. One form of this behaviour, ‘sequential tool use,’ has been observed in a number of non-human primates, and has recently been reported for New Caledonian crows by a research team from Auckland University, New Zealand. In their new study, the Oxford scientists tested seven captive New Caledonian crows on a range of tasks requiring the use of up to three different tools in a sequence to retrieve food. Five crows successfully used tools in a sequence (four from their very first trial), and four repeatedly solved the most demanding three-tool condition. In this, food was placed at a depth so that it was only reachable with one particular tool, but getting that tool required the use of two other others. The crows had to use a short, available tool to drag in a longer, otherwise out-of-reach tool, and then use that longer tool to retrieve the correct, longest one. They could then use the longest tool to reach for the food morsel. Pre-training on each element in the sequence was not required for successful sequential tool use – an explanation that could not be ruled out in earlier studies on primates and crows. Painstaking analysis of tool choices, tool swapping and improvement over time allowed the team to conclude that successful crows did not probe for tools at random: for example, when birds swapped tools, it was usually to get a longer one. At the same time, however, they could find no firm evidence to support previous claims that sequential tool use demonstrates analogical reasoning or human-like planning. While the ability of crows to use three tools in sequence reveals a competence beyond that observed in any other non-human species, including non-human primates, this study also emphasises the importance of a cautious approach in comparative cognitive science. Seemingly intelligent behaviour can be achieved without the involvement of high-level mental faculties, and detailed analyses are necessary before accepting claims for complex cognitive abilities. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 8, 2009 So crows are smarter than chavs? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 (edited) Edge And The Forever Deepening Trademark Rabbit Hole The ongoing controversy between Mobigames, developers of the excellent iPhone game Edge, and Edge Games, a studio who claims trademark ownership over the Edge trademark, only continues to escalate. I've been talking to Mobigames and Edge Games about the issue for several weeks now, but several online reports have pushed Edge Games to publish their side of the story in full -- private e-mails and all -- on its own website. But first, a little history. What's the dispute about? In simple, Edge Games has wanted Mobigames to change the name of their iPhone game Edge or negotiate a settlement agreement between the two companies. Mobigames proposed changing the name to Edgy, which Edge Games found unacceptable. Mobigames is now in the midst of challenging Edge Games' ownership of the trademark itself and Edge Games' questionable tactics in publicly responding to this issue has caused some to ask for his removal from the International Game Developers Association board of directors. Edge Games hasn't been able to garner much public support, partially because of a number of contentious stories raised by former colleagues of Edge Games founder Tim Langdell and the company's bizarre use of imagery on its website that suggested Edge Games tries to bait companies into settlements over its Edge trademark. Like this: The company addressed the issue raised in the above image in their online tell-all, claiming Edge Games contacted Electronic Arts about its supposed infringement through the name Mirror's Edge. According to Edge Games, EA eventually came to a settlement over the issue. "We negotiated amicably with EA and believed we had worked out an agreement in return for which we agreed to not take action to prevent their game being launched with the name Mirror's Edge," states the company. "EA have since been slow to close that deal, and while we are still in good faith about closing it, we trust EA are not working with Mobigame and others to seek to undermine our rights in EDGE in the misguided hope that by taking such action they can avoid concluding the deal with us that they negotiated in principal last November." As of right now, Mobigames has enlisted legal help to settle the Edge dispute. The conclusion of the suit could have vast implications for Edge Games, as Mobigames is seeking to have Edge Games abandon its monopoly over the Edge trademark in North America. Edge Games has reportedly told Mobigames it has abandoned its application for the Edgy trademark and would hand it over to Mobigames at no cost. What's next? I've contacted Mobigames to find out. Regardless of what happens between Mobigames and Edge Games, the saddest part of this story is people are limited from purchasing Edge, by far one of the best games available for the iPhone right now. What a stupid system the patent/trademark is. Edited August 11, 2009 by Dante Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 How can anyone associate a single word?! They think people go "oh Edge, obviously the word of Edge Games, those edgy bastards!" ? And then Edgy wasn't enough either? Are you fucking kidding me?! Can I trademark a fucking syllable and everything attached to it? This shit makes me mad! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=333933006516877 Apparently if Stephen Hawkings was English and went to an English hospital he wouldn't get treated because he's a cripple. :facepalm: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 How can anyone associate a single word?! They think people go "oh Edge, obviously the word of Edge Games, those edgy bastards!" ? And then Edgy wasn't enough either? Are you fucking kidding me?! Can I trademark a fucking syllable and everything attached to it? This shit makes me mad! YEAH?! Well fuck you , I'm going to adopt the word Edge for only twenty quid. THEN WE'LL SEE WHO IS LAUGHING. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8194596.stm Military dictatorship finds democratically elected leader guilty on a trumped-up charge. Now there's a fucking surprise. Ooh, quick, Gordon! Get in there with a "strongly worded statement" and really strike a crushing blow to them... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 Ooh, quick, Gordon! Get in there with a "strongly worded statement" and really strike a crushing blow to them... FLASH? Aaaaahhhaaaah? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 Flash! Flash, I love you! But we only have 14 hours to save Aung San Suu Kyi! Seriously though, where's Daniel Craig when you need him? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 11, 2009 Going back to Hiroshima for a minute; Jamat-E-Islami's protest against America. Interesting, wonder what their response will be (if any). Probably none considering they've links with terrorists groups and propaganda used for their causes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 17, 2009 Grandfather gropes Minnie Mouse, gets bitten. Amazingly pointless news for the amazingly pointless Daily Mail. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
