An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, seen by some as the Holy Grail of physics, which has received rave reviews from scientists.
Garrett Lisi, 39, has a doctorate but no university affiliation and spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii, where he has also been a hiking guide and bridge builder (when he slept in a jungle yurt).
In winter, he heads to the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he snowboards. "Being poor sucks," Lisi says. "It's hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you're trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month."
A really awful translation: (I cleaned this up the best I could)
Quote:
Man decapitates himself with chain saw
A 19 year old person who lived in his parent's house, started a chain saw and cut off his head.
The younger sisters of the victim heard the crash and stormed to the chamber where the bloody event took place. They were late and found the decapitated body of their brother.
Computer game
It is not entirely clear for what reason the boy proceeded with this atrocious action. "he had just graduated and seemed bright",a person commented. It is remarkable, however, that the boy played a still unknown computer game, where it the intention was as many decapitate monsters as possible with a saw.
Any Dutch speakers feel free to correct me :sweatdrop:
11-16-2007, 01:37
Marshal Murat
Re: News of the Weird
There is one ahead of the gaming competition.
I just don't understand how he would willingly or accidentally kill himself.
11-16-2007, 02:01
Gregoshi
Re: News of the Weird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marshal Murat
I just don't understand how he would willingly or accidentally kill himself.
Maybe he was trying on a neckless. :inquisitive:
11-16-2007, 03:35
Marshal Murat
Re: News of the Weird
A good neckless usually costs and arm and a leg, but I guess this one was very precious.
11-16-2007, 04:25
Gregoshi
Re: News of the Weird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marshal Murat
A good neckless usually costs and arm and a leg, but I guess this one was very precious.
:laugh4:
Yes, but you have to keep your head about these things. Maybe he haggled a good price and got it for a Stihl...
Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.
Pigeon: "Yo Sam, think you can get us some crisps?
Sam: "Sure, hold on."
Quote:
Mr Nagarajan said: "He's got it down to a fine art. He waits until there are no customers around and I'm standing behind the till, then he raids the place.
(AP) -- When some of the world's leading religious scholars gather in San Diego this weekend, pasta will be on the intellectual menu. They'll be talking about a satirical pseudo-deity called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose growing pop culture fame gets laughs but also raises serious questions about the essence of religion.
The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes.
.
.
.
The authors recognize the topic is a little light by the standards of the American Academy of Religion.
"You have to keep a sense of humor when you're studying religion, especially in graduate school," Van Horn said in a recent telephone interview. "Otherwise you'll sink into depression pretty quickly."
But they also insist it's more than a joke.
Indeed, the tale of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its followers cuts to the heart of the one of the thorniest questions in religious studies: What defines a religion? Does it require a genuine theological belief? Or simply a set of rituals and a community joining together as a way of signaling their cultural alliances to others?
In short, is an anti-religion like Flying Spaghetti Monsterism actually a religion?
11-16-2007, 23:02
Gregoshi
Re: News of the Weird
A bunch of meatballs talking about people who've lost their noodles...interesting. The only question remaining is will they hit the sauce after the conference?
The joke which received the highest global ratings was submitted by 31-year-old psychiatrist Gurpal Gosall, from Manchester.
It reads as follows: Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
Some other jokes:
Quote:
Patient: "Doctor, I've got a strawberry stuck up my bum." Doctor: "I've got some cream for that!"
Quote:
This was an example of American humour.
Texan: "Where are you from?"
Harvard graduate: "I come from a place where we do not end our sentences with prepositions."
Texan: "OK, where are you from, Jackass?"
Quote:
An Alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote: "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof." The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: "There are only nine words here. You could send another Woof for the same price." "But," the dog replied, "that would make no sense at all."
ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) - A man wearing a ski mask used a stapler to hold up an eastern Kentucky ice cream store _ and briefly got away with $175, authorities said.
Gerald A. Rocchi, 32, was arrested shortly after he flashed a chrome-plated stapler at an employee of The Ice Cream Shop in Ashland on Tuesday and demanded money, police said.
Ashland Police Capt. Don Petrella said he didn't know if Rocchi planned to shoot staples at the shop's employees or use it as a blunt instrument if he didn't get the cash.
It didn't come to that because the employees handed over the cash, Petrella said.
Several witnesses saw Rocchi leave the shop and told police where he was headed, Petrella said. After arresting Rocchi, police searched his house and found money, a stapler and a ski mask, Petrella said.
Petrella said the stapler's chrome finish could have made it look like a gun "if someone didn't get a good look at it."
Rocchi was charged with first-degree robbery. He made his first appearance in Boyd District Court on Wednesday morning. He did not have an attorney at the hearing.
A man caught trying to have sex with his bicycle has been sentenced to three years on probation.
Robert Stewart, 51, admitted a sexually aggravated breach of the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner and simulating sex.
Sheriff Colin Miller also placed Stewart on the Sex Offenders Register for three years.
Mr Stewart was caught in the act with his bicycle by cleaners in his bedroom at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.
Gail Davidson, prosecuting, told Ayr Sheriff Court: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.
"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white t-shirt, naked from the waist down.
"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."
Both cleaners, who were "extremely shocked", told the hostel manager who called police.
Sheriff Colin Miller told Stewart: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."
Stewart had denied the offence, claiming it was caused by a misunderstanding after he had too much to drink.
The bachelor had been living in the hostel since October 2006 after moving from his council house in Girvan.
"For comparison, I think the chances are higher that LHC will see some of these particles than it is that the LHC will see superparticles, extra dimensions, or micro black holes as predicted by string theory. I hope to get more (and different) predictions, with more confidence, out of this E8 Theory over the next year, before the LHC comes online."
Phew. That's one less thing to worry about then...
Socialist health care systems:
They're compassionate.
A very wierd take on the news:dizzy2:
Errrrr...socialist health care ...to each according to their needs .
New Zealands very capitalist immigration policies...if you are not going to make lots of big contributions to the economy you ain't getting in .
11-21-2007, 11:05
Hepcat
Re: News of the Weird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tribesman
A very wierd take on the news:dizzy2:
Errrrr...socialist health care ...to each according to their needs .
New Zealands very capitalist immigration policies...if you are not going to make lots of big contributions to the economy you ain't getting in .
Ha, I never realised we barred fat people from getting into this country. Although our healthcare system is EXTREMELY overworked. Waiting lists are massive and medical professionals are desperately needed. I would imagine that also is a factor and it isn't simply the money factor, or the sole fact that they are obese. If the medical system is already overworked and more people are coming in who are likely to have medical problems then the situation isn't going to improve.
I feel rotten talking like that though since I believe they should be allowed to immigrate here but there are some rather sound reasons behind it. I feel so mean now. :shame:
11-21-2007, 18:47
Vladimir
Re: News of the Weird
Well that would solve our obesity problem if we didn't treat fat people. Which do you prefer, high prices or rationing?
Uh-huh, Rhythmic, like you have never tried to get it on with a fence. Didn't even cross your mind, now did it? Give it up, buddy. We know you're a fence-lover.
The immense fossilised claw of a 2.5m-long (8ft) sea scorpion has been described by European researchers.
The 390-million-year-old specimen was found in a German quarry, the journal Biology Letters reports.
The creature, which has been named Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, would have paddled in a river or swamp.
The size of the beast suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought, the team says.
The claw itself measures 46cm - indicating its owner would have been longer even than the average-sized human.
Overall, the estimated size of the animal exceeds the record for any other sea scorpion (eurypterid) find by nearly 50cm.
The eurypterids are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of modern land scorpions and possibly all arachnids (the class of animals that also includes spiders).
"The biggest scorpion today is nearly 30cm so that shows you how big this creature was," said Dr Simon Braddy from the University of Bristol, UK.
It was one of Dr Braddy's co-authors, Markus Poschmann, who made the discovery in the quarry near Prum in western Germany.
"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realised there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab," he recalled.
"After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw. Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out.
"The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilise it."
Super-sized meals
The species existed during a period in Earth history when oxygen levels in the atmosphere were much higher than today.
And it was those elevated levels, some palaeo-scientists believe, that may have helped drive the super-sized bodies of many of the invertebrates that existed at that time - monster millipedes, huge cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies.
But Dr Braddy thinks the large scales may have had a lot to do with the absence early on of vertebrate predators. As they came on the scene, these animals would have eaten all the biggest prey specimens.
"The fact that you are big means you are more likely to be seen and to be taken for a tastier morsel," he told BBC News. "Evolution will not select for large size; you want to be small so you can hide away."
The scorpions are thought to have made their first scuttles on to land about 450 million years ago.
While some would have taken up a fully terrestrial existence, others like Jaekelopterus rhenaniae would have maintained an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle.
11-22-2007, 03:40
Gregoshi
Re: News of the Weird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Uh-huh, Rhythmic, like you have never tried to get it on with a fence. Didn't even cross your mind, now did it? Give it up, buddy. We know you're a fence-lover.
She was a beautiful, sharp-looking fence with a gate that said "welcome".
He was her fence-sitter.
What happened between them when he got down was a criminal offence.
11-22-2007, 10:50
InsaneApache
Re: News of the Weird
Slats enough Greg. :embarassed:
11-22-2007, 12:00
CountArach
Re: News of the Weird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Uh-huh, Rhythmic, like you have never tried to get it on with a fence. Didn't even cross your mind, now did it? Give it up, buddy. We know you're a fence-lover.
The immense fossilised claw of a 2.5m-long (8ft) sea scorpion has been described by European researchers.
The 390-million-year-old specimen was found in a German quarry, the journal Biology Letters reports.
The creature, which has been named Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, would have paddled in a river or swamp.
The size of the beast suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought, the team says.
The claw itself measures 46cm - indicating its owner would have been longer even than the average-sized human.
Overall, the estimated size of the animal exceeds the record for any other sea scorpion (eurypterid) find by nearly 50cm.
The eurypterids are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of modern land scorpions and possibly all arachnids (the class of animals that also includes spiders).
"The biggest scorpion today is nearly 30cm so that shows you how big this creature was," said Dr Simon Braddy from the University of Bristol, UK.
It was one of Dr Braddy's co-authors, Markus Poschmann, who made the discovery in the quarry near Prum in western Germany.
"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realised there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab," he recalled.
"After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw. Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out.
"The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilise it."
Super-sized meals
The species existed during a period in Earth history when oxygen levels in the atmosphere were much higher than today.
And it was those elevated levels, some palaeo-scientists believe, that may have helped drive the super-sized bodies of many of the invertebrates that existed at that time - monster millipedes, huge cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies.
But Dr Braddy thinks the large scales may have had a lot to do with the absence early on of vertebrate predators. As they came on the scene, these animals would have eaten all the biggest prey specimens.
"The fact that you are big means you are more likely to be seen and to be taken for a tastier morsel," he told BBC News. "Evolution will not select for large size; you want to be small so you can hide away."
The scorpions are thought to have made their first scuttles on to land about 450 million years ago.
While some would have taken up a fully terrestrial existence, others like Jaekelopterus rhenaniae would have maintained an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle.
A jellyfish invasion has wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish.
A Northern Salmon spokesman said last week's attack could cost more than £1m.
Billions of small jellyfish, known as Mauve Stingers, flooded into the cages about a mile into the Irish Sea, off Glenarm Bay and Cushendun.
The jellyfish covered an area of up to 10 square miles and a depth of 35 feet. Rescuers tried to reach the cages but the density of fish made it impossible.
Managing director John Russell said he had never seen anything like this in 30 years in the business.
It could take at least two years for the firm to recover
"The sea was red with these jellyfish and there was nothing we could do about, it, absolutely nothing," he said.
"It's a disaster for this company - you cannot legislate for something like this."
He says the firm could take at least two years to recover.
The company has some high-profile clients, with Irish chef Richard Corrigan serving Glenarm salmon to the Queen on her 80th birthday last year as part of the BBC's Great British Menu programme.
The Department of Agriculture's fisheries division has carried out a full investigation, and talks with NI Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew have taken place to try to rescue the farm and save the jobs of 12 staff.
11-22-2007, 16:56
woad&fangs
Re: News of the Weird
Those weren't Jellyfish. They were obviously Octosquids beginning their destruction of the worlds food supply so we are forced to eat ridiculous amounts of turkey. Then we will all be too trusting of the Octosquids to put up any resistance. Linky
