53137525
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
A man in Austria reports that his iRobot Roomba 760 turned itself on, then threw itself onto the lit burners of his kitchen stove.
No word on whether the next of kin have been notified as of yet....
52767063
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
DEMING, NM – According to recently discovered court documents, a Deming, NM man was subjected to a nightmarish 14-hour anal cavity search for drugs after allegedly running a stop sign. No drugs were found and now David Eckert is suing police officers and the doctors who conducted the horrendous search, which occurred on January 2, 2013.
52315781
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
In response to the ongoing leakage issues that Tokyo Electric Power Company is dealing with at its Fukushima nuclear plant, manufacturer Yamamoto Corporation has launched a line of anti-radiation underwear made from a lead-based fabric to protect a wearer’s more sensitive areas from harmful gamma rays.
45574079
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
In a case that could have nationwide implications in the enforcement of marijuana impaired “drugged driving” laws, the United States Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states can not routinely compel drivers to submit to a blood test in drunk driving cases without consent and without a warrant.
The ruling comes in the case of Missouri v. McNeely, originated by an arrest in October 2010 in the rural county of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
36430435
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
The inventor of the 555 timer IC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_timer_IC), Hans Kamenzind, has died at age 78. His invention (first introduced in 1972) will be warmly remembered by many electronics hobbyists, and was the first integrated circuit ever used by many of us. R.I.P., Hans!
21761952
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
Former National Semiconductor staff scientist and Electronic Design "Pease Porridge" columnist Robert A. Pease (RAP) was killed yesterday in an automobile accident. Ironically, he was returning from a memorial service for fellow analog design legend Jim Williams, who passed earlier in the week. Perhaps even more ironically, Pease was the author of a a book on defensive driving (http://www.amazon.com/How-Drive-into-Accidents-Not/dp/0965564819). The vehicle that he was driving was his beloved 1969 VW Beetle, which he had written about in his ED column many times.
18320622
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
Today marks the end of an era for photo geeks, with the shutdown of the world's last Kodachrome film processing line. Dwayne's Photo, of Parson, KS will pull the plug on their K-14 processing equipment at the end of business today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/us/30film.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=kodachrome&st=cse
6539167
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
The Hansen Beverage corporation (makers of "Monster" energy drinks) is threatening Vermont's Rock Art Brewery (http://rockartbrewery.com/) with trademark infringement litigation over the brewery's "Vermonster" barleywine style ale. Matt Nadeau, the brewery owner is vowing to fight rather than simply rolling over (as advised by his legal counsel). To this end he has posted a video about the situation on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbG_woqXTeg), enlisted several local retailers to begin a boycott of Hansen's products, appeared on local media outlets, and drawn vocal support from across the beer blogs.
Media clips and lots more info available here:
http://rockartbrewery.com/SAVE_VERMONSTER.html
491764
submission
Ellis D. Tripp writes:
According to a recent sociology paper (http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf) out of Oxford university, the historic political/social conservatism of the engineering profession predisposes engineers to develop a "terrorist mindset".
No word on what forms of idiocy sociologists might be predisposed to, though...