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HUMALIATION: PRESS LASSOED BY CLINTON AIDES AT EVENT

Youtube channel “8 Bit Universe” creates fun 8-bit versions of pop culture songs, including many that relates to movies and video games. Here are some of our favorites:

The “Ghostbusters” Theme

Legend Of Zelda Theme (8 Bit Dubstep Remix Cover Version)

Star Wars Imperial March Theme

Super Mario Bros Theme Song

Breaking Bad Theme Song

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Song

[8 Bit Universe]

The post Fun 8-Bit Covers of Popular Geek Culture Theme Songs [Videos] appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

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Submitted by Salil Mehta via Statistical Ideas blog,

Whole Foods has just been caught ripping-off customers, above and beyond their typical rip-off prices.  Whenever I shop at Whole Foods, up and down the Northeast, I observe that more than 2/3 of customers pay with bank cards.  Part of the issue with this payment method is that few customers then do what they should be doing.  Being a math guy for example, I always add up the prices of anything I am about to buy, before I get to the payment cashier.  It's not that hard! 

And every couple of weeks, at all sorts of global merchants (from stores, to restaurants, to service companies), I come across price discrepancies.  I always feel obligated on behalf of all fellow consumers to notify the business staff (whose only incentive at the counter is to pump you for a loyalty discount card in exchange for your valuable personal data), and most of the time the "mistake" is in their favor.  Certainly not in anyone else's.  The "mistake" comes down to corporate heedlessness at best, and an obvious lack of respect for their customer's finances.  Many times I actually get a dirty look (like I am the jerk for catching their own error!), and only some of the time do I notice businesses promptly take the corrective actions so that no one else would be impacted.  If one mindlessly just throws over their bank card and personal data with every purchase, then (as we'll see below) they will often be overcharged.

This particular news is happening with a company that already has a high-profile and checkered track record of doing good.  Just before the global financial crisis, CEO Mackey thought it was better to ignore his customers and mask his online identity with the alias "Rahodeb".  Squandering his time instead by falsely denigrating Wild Oats, and simultaneously falsely promoting Whole Foods.  In a similar playbook as they have today, this insulting set of affairs only came to an abrupt end when Whole Foods was busted.

Also this news is happening with a company that is now suffering intense competition from better-priced competitors.  The organic marketplace is well-overdue for price reform.  As even billionaire investor Warren Buffett quipped recently "I don't see smiles on the faces of people at Whole Foods."  Though on a tangent, we don't see smiles on the faces of his Berkshire stockholders in recent years either (here, here).  Particularly if they then shop at Whole Foods afterwards, only to get served a second beat down.

So what does Whole Foods' leadership finally do about the recent pricing scandal?  Create a feel-good advertisement!  No staff changes nor any attempt at financial regress for the systematic and ongoing misconduct.  They've already double bagged and taken home those ill-gains.  Here we see Walter Robb, and Rahodeb confusingly justify the "rigorous science" surrounding pricing a fruit in the 21th century:

Straight up, uhhh, we made some mistakes.  We want to own that, and tell you what we are going to do about it ... We know they are unintentional because the mistakes are both in the customer's favor and sometimes not in the customer's favor.  It's understandable that sometimes mistakes are made.  They are inadvertent.  They do happen.

They also fictitiously blurt out to anyone mathematically illiterate, that in a "very, very small percentage" of times that errors occurred.  What's missing is that really in a "very, very, very small percentage" did this ever work in their customer's favor.  That's three "very's" using the thumbed-on Whole Foods scale.  Which is why eventually they were busted.

This brings us to statistics on our blog, because it would be informative to show people the number of different ways Whole Foods -or similar merchants- can systematically cheat consumers, and still later hole up behind the lawyered company comments above.  We'll go through examples, each time merely using two hypothetical products for illustration.  We expose in each variation, how even the most fair mis-pricing will generally be "straight up" not fair.

The evening sky is overrated. Don’t go there for awesome fireworks. Look at these clips of video gaming’s best fireworks. We’ve got to start with Mario.

Fantavision, the PlayStation 2’s fireworks-gaming classic.

Final Fantasy XIII: Fireworks Edition

Boom Boom Rocket (Like DDR but with fireworks)

Uh.. Disney Fireworks, anyone?

Big Bang Mini, an obscure one on the Nintendo DS.

Left 4 Dead? This seems wrong.

Assassin’s Creed II. Just the last bit of this clip.

Gran Turismo 5. Go figure.

Colonization (I love the name of this video: “Colonization Gameplay (SPOILER) - Video 18: INDEPENDENCE (End sequence)“ ... it’s like, spoiler: The British Empire loses!

Minecraft, of course.

Batman: Arkham Asylum. I forgot this game had any. Thanks, Giant Bomb, for your awesome fireworks-in-games list. I had to peek to remember this one.

Peggle. Well, Peggle hacked.

Animal Crossing.

Forza Horizon 2

Majora’s Mask, of course.

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Citizens of Chicago need to prepare themselves for a "cloud tax" that went into effect on July 1. The nine-percent tax to cloud services like Netflix, Spotify and Xbox Live is the result of an "amusement tax" ruling that items "delivered electronical...

5th Round put together this funny compilation of times when cocky professional athletes failed to back up their arrogant taunting.

[5th Round]

A Norwegian company wants to help you get every drop of mayo out of the bottle. It’s licensing a non-stick coating from a US company that already works with glue manufacturers.

The US firm, LiquiGlide, says it can coat the inside of food containers in a totally safe way. It customizes its coating manufacture process for individual uses and says in this case it could make the coating entirely from food materials, thus meeting health and safety standards.

According to LiquiGlide, its product isn’t simply a super-hydrophobic material that creates a cushion of air between itself and a product. Instead it’s a liquid-impregnated surface. In effect it’s a flat surface with a raised matrix (looking a little like a city grid from above). The matrix is designed so that a liquid not only perfectly fills the gaps between the raised bumps but is held permanently in place.

The result is an overall surface that’s consistently slippery and allows the relevant liquid in the container to pass smoothly. As well as using custom materials, the company also adjusts the structure to give a custom level of slipperiness: that is, controlling the speed at which the liquid in the container passes by.

Earlier this year the company licensed its technology to glue manufacturer Elmers with the aim of making it easier to get glue out of the container. Now it’s done a deal with Norwegian food manufacturer Orkla. The initial deal covers mayonnaise products across Northern Europe.

The theory is that as well as customers feeling they get a better deal by not wasting any of the product, it could boost recycling, either by customers reusing products at home, or by making it easier for waste management products to reclaim the container without having to deal with gunk on an epic scale.

LiquiGlide is selling it as a boost for the manufacturers as well: it argues that customers who can get the product out easier will finish it off quicker and buy replacements, rather than give up out of frustration but be unwilling to make a new purchase while there’s still some left in the bottle.

Of course, while the logic of the coating makes sense, and it may well work perfectly with mayo, here in the UK shoppers will be forgiven for wondering how it will cope with Marmite, a yeast extract spread (similar to Australia’s Vegemite) notorious for the last few servings being irretrievable.

The post Super Non-Stick Mayo Bottles Could Cut Wastage appeared first on Geeks are Sexy Technology News.

In a move that will make privacy advocates cringe, Kuwait passed a law yesterday making DNA tests mandatory for all residents. According to the AFP, people who refuse testing will face a year in prison and a hefty fine.

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