…and what if pulp fiction would have been played by the the muppets? This what this video is all about. Enjoy the show!
[Via Neatorama]
The Michael Crichton story ideas that actually came true
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that Michael Crichton is dead. Although some of his books were terrible (“The Terminal Man” is the worst book I have ever read), some of his other ones were fantastic, such as “Jurassic Park” and “The Andromeda Strain”. To think we will never see a new book with “Michael Crichton” on the cover is just incomprehensible to me right now.
But what we perhaps don’t fully realize is that some of what Crichton talked about in his books has already actually happened in some shape or form. OK, we haven’t had dinosaur parks by eccentric millionaires yet but how about cloning dead or extinct animals? We haven’t had a nasty fatal disease like the Andromeda Strain either but how about antibiotic resistant superbugs?
His stories might have been considered crazy when they were published but posterity will probably consider him right in the end.
Physics Professor Builds Time Machine to Save Dead Father
If you think this sounds like the premise of a sci-fi movie, you’re not alone. Time travel is a topic that has been addressed ad nauseum in fiction, but it’s never come even close to being reality. Until now – or so says University of Connecticut physics professor Ronald Mallett, who intends to travel not to the future, but the past: specifically, the Bronx in 1955.
Dr. Ronald L. Mallett has kept his time-travel work secret for decades, fearing that public knowledge of the project would be career suicide. For more than 50 years, Mallett has obsessed over finding a way to traverse spatiotemporal continuum so he could warn his father to stop his two-pack-a-day habit and take better care of himself, in the hopes of preventing his fatal heart attack at 33.
The Boston Phoenix profiled Dr. Mallett’s attempts at building a contraption based on the one he saw on the cover of the Classics Illustrated version of H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, detailing his work and revealing that his theory, though in need of more work, is sound. Spike Lee is currently writing a screenplay for a movie, which he’ll also direct, based on Mallett’s book, Time Traveler.
Sort of bizarre? Sure, but it’s also fascinating. Check out the whole story over at The Boston Phoenix.
Buy Her a Drink… Over the Internet!
by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Are you too shy to attempt to pick up women at bars? Too scared of rejection? Worried that if you buy a woman a drink she’ll throw it in your face? Or better yet–just can’t tear yourself away from your computer long enough to go to a bar? Well, now you don’t have to!
GetThemIn is “the first online application” that lets you buy drinks for someone over the Internet. Let’s break this down: you buy someone a virtual drink, which they then redeem for a real drink while you’re not there. Correct me if I’m wrong about this, but isn’t buying someone a drink in a bar just a socially acceptable pretext for declaring your desire for closer contact?
Now clueless romantics who spend too much time on Facebook can practice their social niceties with none of the risk and none of the benefit. Well, maybe a small amount of each. After all, you could buy a girl a drink and she could immediately change her Facebook status to “is laughing so hard because [your name] thinks he has a chance with her.” Or maybe she will track you down and insist that you join her in the real world for said drink (at which point, wouldn’t it have made more sense to just buy her one in person in the first place?).
I was hoping to get a look at the application myself to see how it works, but apparently it’s only in the UK for now, set to launch in North America in a few weeks. Come to think of it, with all of the celebrities/politicians/etc. who are getting onto Facebook now, perhaps there is another use for this service: how would you like to be able to say that you bought Obama a drink?
[Via Webitpr]
Online Etiquette: How To Behave On An Internet Forum
Internet forums are great places to meet interesting, like-minded people, but before participating in one, you need to know a thing or two about the proper way to do so. The following video explains some of the most common mistakes people make in forums, which makes them the sort of loathsome fool no one wants to know. Enjoy the show!
Social Networking: How To Behave On An Internet Forum
Mirror’s Edge Launch Trailer
EA Games has just released Mirror’s Edge’s official launch trailer, just a week before it hits store shelves everywhere. According to early reviews of the game, this is going to be THE title to have for the PS3 / Xbox 360 this fall. Check it out below.
Mirror’s edge will be released on November 11 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com right now.
New Spray-On Solar Cells Coming Soon
We’ve been hearing about this imminent technology for a while, but today researcher Xiaomei Jiang said that spray-on solar cells have been successfully tested as a power source for microscopic machines. Jiang and her colleagues used flexible polymer as a base instead of silicon, which is brittle.
The researchers at the University of South Florida needed a power source for a microscopic sensor that can detect dangerous chemicals and toxins, which could potentially help locate chemical leaks. So they built an inch-long array of the tiniest solar cells ever built, and Jiang says this new technology could be used on practically any surface that’s exposed to sunlight, including straight onto rooftops and cars.
The cells Jiang and her colleagues created are each the size of a lower case “o” in standard 12-point print. The array provided 7.8 volts of power, about half of their goal, and Jiang says they expect to reach 15 volts by the end of the year.
Imagine the possibilities if this technology proves to be applicable for commercial and residential purposes. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s any more affordable than regular solar cells, and what its limitations are.
US admiral wants ray guns for naval fleet
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
A US admiral wants American warships in the Middle East to be equipped with microwave “pain ray” cannons to avoid having to use deadly force.
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, in command of the US 5th Fleet, wants the weapons so they can be used against smaller boats at close range, such as speedboats. The 5th Fleet covers an area including the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian & Arabian Gulf and the east African coast right down to Kenya. So they are on the lookout for foes such as Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats or suicide boats, which is just what they have been encountering lately.
Obviously, shooting these boats can lead to inconvenient little things like wars, so microwave pain ray cannons are a little less permanent. Apparently it “inflicts intense pain on its targets by heating up the outer layer of their skin”. So a nasty sun tan then without any sun tan lotion. Uuurgh….nasty.
Get fake calls on your iPhone with Magic Tap
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Have you ever been in a social situation that you wish you could get out of? Maybe a terrible blind date? Or perhaps someone stops you in the street and starts talking non-stop? Do you also have an iPhone? Well, if so, there is a solution at hand to give you the perfect excuse to get away!
Magic Tap is an application in the iTunes Store which will make a fake call on your iPhone at a pre-set time to make it look as if you are receiving an urgent phone call.
You can apparently customize the caller name and number to anything your like. So you could enter something like “White House” and “555-555-1414”, and then when the phone rings, suddenly dash away, muttering “national security….nuclear launch codes…” under your breath.
I really have to get myself an iPhone…..
A Slice of the Dark Side for Breakfast, Luke?
The Star Wars official online shop has all sorts of interesting toys, not that I would buy anything from there mind you… or would I? Anyways, here’s my latest coup de foudre, courtesy of the Dark Lord himself.
Even though the Darth Vader Toaster isn’t as advanced as some of the fancy bread burners out there, it does what it was designed for perfectly: Toast a perfect image of the Dark Lord on each slice of bread it burns.
Yours for only $55.