Nine years and a fingertip

MSNBC: A California court sentenced a couple to nine years in prison on Wednesday for planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chili to swindle a Wendy’s fast food restaurant.

Finally the story somehow ends. More on the stuff: FB&M - Wendy's working hard to find the owner of the finger
FB&M - Finger-in-chili accuser has litigious history
FB&M - More on the finger
FB&M - The mystery of the chili-fingertip.

Rich and married

MSNBC.com: A study by an Ohio State University researcher shows that a person who marries — and stays married — accumulates nearly twice as much personal wealth as a person who is single or divorced.

Yeah. Sure...

05 Vaporware

Wired: Time to suggest the 2005 Vaporware. "As in previous years, software that hasn't shipped is considered vaporware until it's shrink-wrapped. Any program that's in a never-ending, pre-release, beta-testing stage is considered vaporware, even if it's widely available.

Likewise hardware. Prototypes may exist in some lab, but it's vaporware until it hits store shelves.

And remember, if it shipped -- even if it stank -- it's not vaporware."

Worst dressed 2005

People.com: Calling her a victim of "Couture Chaos," fashion guru Mr. Blackwell on Tuesday named Britney Spears the worst dressed star of 2005.

"From the 'Princess of Pop' to the ultimate 'Fashion Flop,'" sneers Blackwell of Spears, claiming the new mom "looks like an over-the-hill Lolita."

More celebs get their share of Blackwell's poison:

Anna Nicole Smith: "Queen Kong."
Shakira: "Coiffure by Medusa ... clothes by the Marquis De Sade."
Renee Zellweger: "Runs the gamut from Kewpi Doll Dreck to Red Carpet Wreck … she looks like a painted pumpkin – on a pogo stick."

mp3 diminishes feelings from musical experience

MediaPost Publications: "'The pace of technological change has accelerated further over the last 20 years or so and these fundamental changes in the nature of musical experience and value have arguably become even more pronounced,' North told AFP. 'Because so much music of different styles and genres is now so widely available via portable MP3 players and the Internet, it is arguable that people now actively use music in everyday listening contexts to a much greater extent than ever before.'

North concluded: 'The degree of accessibility and choice has arguably led to a rather passive attitude towards music heard in everyday life.' "

And I conclude: Bullshit.

Prime time

The 43rd Mersenne Prime is 9,152,052 digits long and holds the record in long prime. But the search continues since EFF have put a price of hundred grand for the prime with 10 million digits.

The struggle continues

Boy vs Wall - 0-1.

Merry Xmas and boobs

Suicide Girls take Santa out. Topless. So truly strange.

Romance turned into horror

Yahoo! News: "Skirt-chasing playboy Daniel Anceneaux spent weeks talking with a sensual woman on the Internet before arranging a romantic rendezvous at a remote beach -- and discovering that his on-line sweetie of six months was his own mother!"

Somehow this is the time to say: Be careful outthere... (hattip to Nina)

Bad stage-diving experience

First rule of stage-diving: be sure there is someone watching. Mira forgot to check it. That hurts.

Man gets 5,000 channels on 12 dishes

Boing Boing: "Al Jessup of Beckley, West Virginia, has 12 cheap satellite dishes stuck to his house, which pull in over 5,000 free-to-air channels from satellites all over the sky. He is retired, and delights in odd and foreign programming."

"I took my b*lls out and passed them in the bag to a friend."

Smh.com.au: "A rugby fan who cut out his testicles with wire cutters to mark a Wales victory is at a loss to explain why he did it."

Scientists embrace plan for cyberhugs

Yahoo! News: "The next step would be to use the same concept to transmit hugs over the Internet, it said.
'These days, parents go on a lot of business trips, but with children, hugging and touching are very important,' the paper quoted NTU Associate Professor Adrian David Cheok as saying."

But at the moment it only are functional on chickens...

Check email with a riff

CNN.com: "Intel spokesman Simon Shipley said the new guitar would help aspiring musicians to record and playback their music, or e-mail it to prospective agents, fellow band members or friends.
They could also download and playback their favorite riffs from the Internet to try and copy the sound."

The Locks O' Truth

The Box O' Truth: "1. "How hard is it to shoot off a lock?" Answer: Very hard.
2. Pistols won't shoot a lock off or even penetrate the lock.
3. Pistols are pistols and rifles are rifles. Enough said.
4. I now understand why our troops are often seen carrying "breeching shotguns" on their backs and a rifle in their hands. Shotguns will blow a lock off. Rifles will blow holes through a lock, but will not reliably shoot one off.
5. The rifles went through the locks with ease. It is obvious that you could "knaw" off the lock, little by little with a rifle, but a shotgun does it with one shot."

I love when people really dig in with the popcultural myths! :)