Fatbob

 CoolChip Technologies is a startup working to redesign fans to be less of a nuisance. While there are alternatives (like liquid cooling) for those who simply cannot stand the presence of fans, CoolChip’s work doesn’t require significantly changing a machine’s internal layout. Read More

For years, prairie dogs have been the bane of cattle ranchers, whose livestock are routinely injured when stepping in prairie dog holes. In response, ranchers have gassed, poisoned, drowned, or buried entire colonies alive. But one enterprising pest control company has devised a more humane method of removing the rodents—with a modified sewer cleaning truck.

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Cruise ships are not the most environmentally friendly vacation destinations on the planet. In fact, according to the latest Cruise Ship Report Card by Friends of the Earth, they might be about the worst. These floating resorts dump over a billion gallons of sewage into the open ocean every year. In a sense, every cruise is a poop cruise .

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via

Thanks Cari

 

The post Frightening Statistic appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

Krypton may be gone, but it is never forgotten. Sometimes it can even be resurrected. Just about six weeks ago word leaked out that David Goyer is developing a Krypton TV show to act as a sort of Superman prequel. That rumor has now been verified, as Goyer and SyFy have announced the development of (wait for it) Krypton, a show written by Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time, FlashForward), who cracked the story with Goyer. The two will exec produce the series, which plans to follow members of the El family a generation before it gave birth to Kal-El.

THR says, 

Krypton takes place years before the Superman legend we know, when the House of El was shamed and ostracized. This drama, which is in development, follows the Man of Steel’s grandfather as he brings hope and equality to Krypton, turning a planet in disarray into one worthy of giving birth to the greatest Super Hero ever known.

The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment, and continues the trend of spreading DC shows around to various networks and cable channels. It is also part of SyFy’s push to get back to serious sci- fi, as also seen with shows like Dominion, Ascension, 12 Monkeys.

That’s all we’ve got at the moment. Clearly there are decades of Krypton stories from which the show might draw, and one advantage of doing this as a TV series disconnected from any other portrayal of the DC Universe is that it does not have to be beholden to ideas seen in Man of Steel, or any other Superman movie or TV series.

 

The post David Goyer and SyFy Make ‘Krypton’ Origin Story Series Official appeared first on /Film.

(Photo: unrelated Tim Hortons via Peter Broster)

Meanwhile, in Canada, a Tim Hortons customer in Sasktatoon has trying to address a serious defect in his breakfast order. He wanted the onions on his sandwich diced. No, sliced or chopped was not enough. They must be diced. When the restaurant employee refused to comply, the customer quite rightly responded by throwing a snake at him. The National Post reports:

Staff told police that two male customers were arguing with an employee about their breakfast order – specifically that they wanted their onions diced. When the argument escalated, one of the men reached into the pocket of the other man, pulled out a garter snake and threw it behind the counter.

And for this fairly bland response to outrageously bad customer service, local police arrested the men!

The two men, both 20, are facing charges of mischief and causing a disturbance.

That’s a Tim Hortons that I definitely won’t visit in the future.

-via @library_cait

President needs a new gig in two years and his CV's a bit better than yours

Barack Obama has written what is believed to be the first computer code ever penned by a US President.…

Need some place to keep track of all the cargo you're smuggling? This Chewbacca-themed 160-page notebook is not only covered in a luxurious coat of fur, it also makes actual Wookiee sounds whenever you open the cover. It doesn't have a lock, but doesn't need one because everybody knows not to mess with a Wookiee, right?

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It's watermelon time.

YouTube musician Tom Rosenthal performs a delightful song dedicated entirely to watermelons. With simple, bouncy lyrics like, "I said boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. It’s a fruit-based love," it's like biting into a cool, crisp melon on a hot summer day.

There is no truer love than fruit love.

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Does your blood boil at the thought of being on hold with customer service? Do you have a knack for finding phone numbers to reach the right representative and talking points to deal with them? Have you used social media to complain to businesses directly?

Then you may be just the kind of "asshole" that Erik Martin is looking for.

Martin, who stepped down as Reddit's general manager in October, is working on another project with a funny name but a noble ambition: Assholes on Demand. The idea, according to the website that he unveiled to loud applause at the Mashable Media Summit on Friday, is to recruit "resourceful assholes" who can help primarily senior citizens, non-English speakers and active military members with their "customer service nightmares." Read more...

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Rust isn't the only survival game in development at Facepunch Studios. During the Game Awards on Friday, we were reacquainted with Bill Lowe's Before, a pleasant-looking title in which players guide a prehistoric tribe, "shaping their culture and defining their history."

I'm curious to see how exactly Before plays -- "[it] controls much like a real-time strategy or 'god' game," says Lowe -- but until then I have already fallen in love with its striking world.

After tantalizing us with the possibilities of delivery by drones , then bringing us back to Earth with delivery by taxis , Amazon has now resorted to perhaps the most obvious and time-tested method of getting something somewhere fast in a big city: bikes.

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I can't have enough of videos that show things cut in half working. This one shows a fully automatic shotgun in action. It's sad to see how humans spend so much time and intelligence developing perfect death machines like these—but the engineering work is fascinating nonetheless.

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George Lucas directed four Star Wars movies and produced all six, so one might assume he would interested in the direction that J.J. Abrams is planning to take the seventh movie in

But as it turns out, Lucas claims that he hasn't even seen the trailer for Star Wars Episode VII yet — and doesn't intend to.

Lucas told Page Six that he doesn't know "anything" about the teaser trailer, which dropped Nov. 28, but that he will see the movie "when it's released."

Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney in 2012 and handed over the reigns for the seventh movie to J.J. Abrams in 2012. But it seems as though his enthusiasm has waned — or else he just wants to keep the element of surprise going. Read more...

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$80  –  Get yours here.

Thanks Tommy Salami

 

The post Cash Cannon – Make it Rain Money appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

Ralph Baer was an electronics and engineering pioneer, known as the "father of videogames." Baer designed the Magnavox Odyssey, starting work on the machine in the late 1960s before releasing it in 1972, when it became the world's first commercial home console.

This footage of Baer playing The Brown Box (a prototype of the Odyssey) dates all the way back to 1969. Throughout his life, Baer stayed active in the electronics and gaming communities to which he helped give birth.

He received the National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in 2006. I'm sure that Mr. Baer would be happy to know that he's affected millions upon millions of people. Not bad for a life's work.

_{This post has been updated to correct factual errors.}

In 1992, Erik and Lina Runestam, a brother and sister in Sweden, along with their friend Christoffer Hogstrom, wrote a message and partially burned it to make the letter look like an old dip pen message written on parchment. Then they sealed the bottle and threw it into the sea from the coastal town of Hunnebostrand.

Last month, Leonard Pearson of Panama found it. He wrote to the brother and sister 22 years after they sent the bottle on its long journey. BBC News reports:

Erik remembers being excited about sending the message in the bottle.

He told Newsbeat: "Our dad told us we should wait until the wind was blowing off land because it might go as far as England, so we were a bit excited about that.

"It would have travelled north of Denmark, through the English Channel to cross the Atlantic. Our hopes weren't that high to even get to England."

Erik had lost touch with his childhood friend Christoffer - they hadn't spoken for 10 years. So Erik was very surprised when Christoffer sent a photo of the letter with a reply from Panama.

The letter - dated 6 November 2014 - reads: "Bueno dias. I have found this message in a bottle at Playa del Dragos, Bocas del Toro.

"I used Google Translate, and it seems the message is in Swedish? I hope that the address is correct and that this letter reaches the kids who sent the message."

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath

Ralph Baer, one of the true pioneers in the world of video games, has passed away at age 92. Baer was frequently known as "The Father of Video Games" for his early role in the development of the video game console.

Baer first explored the idea of playing games on a television screen in 1966. He finished his prototype for what would become the very first video game console, then dubbed the Brown Box, in 1968. In 1972, the Brown Box technology was used to unveil the Magnavox Odyssey, the world's first commercial video game console.

Baer also created the first video game light gun and game. In 1978, Baer co-developed the memory game Simon Read more...

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