Off With Her Head!

More evidence that we really don't understand the Japanese. Greenhead links to this WMV display showing a woman in a Japanese talent show losing her head. I have a guess about how she does it, but if anyone thinks they know, please leave a comment.

Bin Laden Please Phone Home

The FBI has weighed in on the moves by the FCC and FAA to legalize cell phone use in airplanes. Seems they are unhappy that they won't be able to wiretap calls whenever they feel like it. Terrorists might need to phone home from the plane to get instructions, or something. Yeah, right.

Hazardous Activities

Kite flying in Pakistan seems to be a dangerous pastime. During the recent annual kite-flying festival in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, nearly twenty people died. Two were killed when hit by a car. Six more fell off a roof. Two were hit by stray gunfire. A four year old girl's throat was slit by a metal kite string. Another electrocuted because he used wire instead of string. Seven were crushed to death. Some 500 others suffered lesser injuries. Ouch!

Inside Deep Throat

There has been lots of coverage in the media about the revelation that ex-FBI #2 man Mark Felt was the infamous "Deep Throat" source that Woodward and Bernstein used to blow open the Watergate affair. In a new article in the Washington Post, Woodward tells the story of how he met Felt, and how they came to leak one of the biggest scandals in American history. I do wonder just how long Woodward has been keeping this article in his file drawer.

Whom Do You Trust?

Oxytocin is a hormone that up until now has been chiefly of to obstetricians. They use it to accelerate labor when 1; The fetus is in distress, 2; The mother has been having contractions for too long, or 3; The OB has a tee time to meet. Now Swiss researchers have found have found that the drug in spray form can be used to stimulate trust in people who are dosed with it. This suggests abuses from insurance sales to date-rape. Better living through chemistry!

Put Up Or Shut Up

Saddam Hussein has been in jail for eighteen months now, and appears to be no closer to going to trial. The convenient fiction is that he is held by Iraq, even though his guards are from the American army. Neither group seems to subscribe to a prisoners right to a speedy trial. If they are going to hang him, shoot him, or otherwise dispose of him, lets get it over with. Hoping the ~70 year old will drop dead and eliminate the problem is a bit disingenuous.

Never Date Anyone Weirder Than You Are

Somehow, it's comforting to know that there are people out there who are significantly weirder than you are. Take this piece that Xeni Jardin posted to BoingBoing:

"Last night at Dorkbot SF, Violet Blue gave a wonderful presentation on the current state of teledildonics: the science of manipulating sex toys through the Internet. Immediately following the conclusion of her speech, Violet proceeded to manipulate a Thrillhammer in New York's Museum of Sex. But the attempt was marred by technical difficulties ranging from slow camera updates to not having the cursed thing plugged in. This was perhaps the first time in history that a room-full of people had managed to frustrate a woman 3000 miles away. In the end, however, Net Michelle did manage to get her rocks off as Violet piloted her to orgasm. The thrust of the experiment basically proved that teledildonics has made some major progress, but is also a long way from being a viable form of sexual gratification."

I don't think there is anything I can add to this.

Go Home!

Somehow I didn't get this on my calendar earlier, but it seems that today is National Leave the Office Earlier Day. So go home! You were probably goofing off anyway.