Random

There are days when I really don't like myself very much. Sometimes, I even curse the very ground I tread and the being that I have willfully become.

However, if I write these feelings down, I try to make sure that they're in a very private corner of my laptop or, at the very least, hidden in one of the self-help books in my bookcase.

It seems, though, that Jeanne Mundango Manunga, a 25-year-old woman from Santa Ana, Calif., took a slightly different philosophical approach.

According to the Orange County Register, Manunga wanted to make people believe that … Read more

This is what happens when the Force comes down upon you.

Just a few weeks ago, there was much stimulation around a product called the Spyder III Pro Arctic Laser.

This sweet little object does bear a passing resemblance to a "Star Wars" lightsaber. In addition, it can burn your skin and permanently blind you. And that's not all. The manufacturer, Hong Kong-based Wicked Lasers, proudly tells you on its Web site that it is "the most dangerous laser ever created."

Some people have been a little concerned that this fine laser might bring the nasty side of celestial wars rather closer to Earth than is healthy.

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas seems not to be a fan. According to CNN, he and Lucasfilm sent a cease and desist letter expressing, among others, the following concern: "It is apparent from the design of the Pro Arctic Laser that it was intended to resemble the hilts of our lightsaber swords, which are protected by copyright."

The letter added that the Pro Arctic is "a highly dangerous product with the potential to cause blindness, burns, and other damage to people and/or property." It demanded that the product should be recalled.

In a press release, Wicked Lasers offered that there are several differences between a lightsaber and its own bright idea.… Read more

A blind person will soon be driving at Daytona.

No, I didn't begin my Independence Day celebrations a week ago. Please, bear with me a little. We'll get to Daytona shortly.

You see, the Associated Press has offered the information that the National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech University have come together to develop technology that will allow blind people to get behind the wheel of a car and go wherever they like.

2011 should see the debut of a prototype vehicle equipped with "nonvisual interfaces." This technology transmits information to blind drivers about … Read more

With seemingly every car on the road being designed by the same three people, all of whom live in the same subdivision, it seems the only leap forward in auto design is the leap upward.

Many hearts, then, were sent soaring at the news that the Federal Aviation Administration is giving the Terrafugia Transition a little light leeway in order to allow it to qualify as a light aircraft rather than a heavy machine. And now the Marines seem to be getting in on the flying Ford Focus act.

Logi Aerospace has announced that it has sent a proposal to … Read more

People's enthusiasm for technology can sometimes overpower their enthusiasm for common sense.

According to the Telegraph, a 54-year-old man was seated on a train in Hamburg, Germany, when his Nokia cell phone rang.

Its tune disturbed many in the carriage because instead of a cheery Europop ditty, it was a speech given by Adolf Hitler in which he pledged "the destruction of world Jewry."

What possessed this man to be so spectacularly mindless as to display his Naziness for all to hear might be beyond all psychology. However, when police arrested him, he reportedly not only possessed … Read more

This 4th of July weekend, you might, either at its beginning or its end, find yourself wishing your car could fly.

Thanks to a new FAA decision, this wish might seem slightly less Peter Pan and slightly more Peter Perfect.

It seems that the soaring minds behind the Terrafugia Transition have secured a remarkable weight exemption from the FAA, allowing it to carry such vital necessities as crumple zones, airbags, and a structural cage on its revolutionary flying car.

No, the airbags won't help much in the air. But road safety is just as vital for this dual-purpose flying … Read more

Do you feel the "Scent of Danger?" Could it be the "Centaur of Danger?"

There are unearthly beings in our midst. And I am not referring specifically to any unearthly being that Stephen Hawking is so keen for us to avoid.

Please look at the image from Google Street View that I have been brave enough to present here.

It is the body of a man. It is the head of a horse. They are on the very same being. You try and tell me that this not something from out there, rather than in here. … Read more

Do you intend to be nice to your co-workers today? Do you intend to spend a little longer in the shower so that your personal crevices are spotless? Do you intend to write that friend request to Mark Zuckerberg and keep your list of friends private?

Well, a group of scientists at UCLA would like to thank you for words, but prefers to scan your brains to prove to you what you really intend to do.

If this all sounds a little macabre, then you clearly don't intend to follow science's inexorable path. According to Reuters, a team … Read more

It's like the first flower of spring. The first beer of the ball game. The first hair that grows beneath your shirt.

Yes, a man has already pitched a tent outside an Apple store in Dallas in the hope of being the first to get his tired, moist hands on the new iPhone 4, which launches June 24.

The Dallas Morning News appears to have been the first to espy the intrepid Justin Waggoner, who hitched his wagon to the sidewalk last Wednesday.

Is he a serial queuer? But of course. He told the Morning News he's camped … Read more