Fully automated restaurant gets previewed, no tipping required

I don’t know exactly why, but Germans have the reputation of having absolutely no sense of humor. Just ask Mark, our resident German contributor, he’ll tell you so. So if you’re planning to visit Germany during your next vacation and want to experience German gastronomy, don’t expect to get a smile from employees when going […]


“Live Long and Prosper….Hello…Anyone there?”

By Mark O’Neill There’s an interesting discussion over at Universe Today about whether we would be told by governments if aliens were to contact us via SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Maybe I’ve watched too many science-fiction movies but I’ve always had the impression that if an alien race were to pop in for a […]

Who owns the Imperial Stormtroopers’ clothes?

By Mark O’Neill You have to feel sorry for the Imperial Stormtroopers.   When they’re not getting their butts kicked by the Jedi Knights, they’re getting caught in the middle of a legal battle over who owns their clothes. Andrew Ainsworth, the British prop designer who designed and made the original stormtrooper outfits for George Lucas […]

The Beamz – A laser music system that makes you look like an idiot

The Beamz is a laser-based musical system that allows you to play hundreds of different musical instruments by breaking laser beams with your hands. Theoretically, this kind of device could be very cool (like this one), but after seeing the infomercial that was made to promote it, the “coolness” factor surrounding the thing quickly came […]