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Sunday, October 31, 2004
The World's Biggest Gambler?
Daily Telegraph: City's billion dollar punter
Zeljko Ranogajec is Australia's, and possibly the world's, biggest punter and strikes fear into the heart of every bookie.
Mr Ranogajec, of Balmoral on the North Shore, boasts a gambling turnover of about $1 billion a year.
"That's one thousand million dollars," IASBet bookmakers owner Mark Read said. "A profit margin of just 1 per cent would net $10m.
"He has agents betting for him with the bookmakers but he basically controls the totes.
...of the $11.7bn bet on racing in Australia with totes in 2003, he was responsible for up to $500m – 5 per cent.
Man Run Over While Sun-Bathing
The Australian: Man run over while sun-baking
A 22-year-old man is recovering in hospital after being run over while sun-baking on his driveway in Sydney's south.
A spokesman for the Westpac Lifesaver helicopter said the man was lying in the sun on the driveway at Yarrawarrah, near Engadine, when the accident happened.
"He was sun-baking on his driveway and someone coming to the house ... has run over him," the spokesman said.
"It's a steep driveway with a plateau before more driveway, and he was on the plateau area and was unseen by the driver of the vehicle."
The Enchanted Maze Garden Puzzle
"The Enchanted Maze Garden adds new twists to the classic maze. Maneuver several pieces at the same time through the maze."
If you get stuck, or quit, then take a look at some of the solutions on Fark. It is possible to do it in 38 moves.
Weird Foods
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Home Made Street Sweeper
[via M90]
Google To Port Desktop Search To Mac
NeoWin: Google Plans Desktop Search Tool for Apple PCs
Google Inc. plans to release a version of its desktop search tool for computers running on the Mac operating system from Apple Computer Inc. , Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on Friday. Schmidt did not set a timetable for a Mac version of Google Desktop, saying it had to be rebuilt from the ground up because of the fundamental differences between the Mac OS and Windows.
"We intend to do it," Schmidt said at a University of California-Los Angeles conference commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Internet.
Gmail Accounts 'Wide Open To Exploit'
The Reg: Gmail accounts 'wide open to exploit'
Google's high profile webmail service, Gmail, is vulnerable to a security exploit that might allow hackers full access to a user's email account simply by knowing the user name, according to reports.
The security flaw allows full access to users' accounts, with no need of a password, Israeli news site Nana says . Using a hex-encoded XSS link, the victim's cookie file can be stolen by a hacker, who can later use it to identify himself to Gmail as the original owner of an email account, regardless of whether or not the password is subsequently changed. Following up a tip from an Israeli hacker, journos from the site confirmed the attack and verified the exploit with local security firm Aladdin Knowledge Systems.
It's unclear whether the hole has been maliciously exploited. Google has been notified of the issue and is reportedly working on a fix.
[via Gmail]
Hamster Hats
This woman loves her hamsters so much that she makes little hats for them. However, they are not allowed to wear them alone as they have a habit of choking to death on them! [via The Presurfer]
Little Britain Edited For BBC One
BBC: Little Britain edited for BBC One
Cult comedy Little Britain is being re-edited for its first outing on BBC One in December, the BBC has said.
Certain scenes in the character-based sketch show will be replaced with new footage shot especially for BBC One.
Graphic references - including those made in Daffyd's "the only gay in the village" sketches - are deemed unsuitable for a mainstream audience.
Changes to the show are being made because of the audience differences between BBC One and its digital counterpart.
I can understand how the BBC would want to change some of the scenes. Daffyd's scenes in particular include a lot harder language which many people would find offensive.
However, if you enjoyed the first series and you haven't started watching the new series on BBC Three, make sure you start now so that you don't miss the scenes that they cut. Also it would be good to compare the two versions.
Newky Brown Ice Cream
Has anyone up north ever tried this? Apparently it has been available since June but was only being made for 6 months. [via The Lost Links]
The "No-Case" Case Mod
More pics here. [via The Lost Links]
World Puzzle Championship Puzzle
Here is one of the puzzles that was used at the 13th Annual World Puzzle Championships. It was posted on the Google blog and I'm not even going to attempt to complete it.
Instructions: Shade in nine regions such that no two shaded regions touch (even at a corner) and that eight of them "point" in different directions. The numbers outside the grid tell you how many shaded regions there should be in that row or column.
For Sale: Saddam's Left Leg
A German auction site is selling the left leg (scroll down for English) of the famous statue that was torn down during the Iraq war. [via Boing Boing]
300-Year CD-Rs
"Using no less than 24K gold, Delkin Devices have created the eFilm Archival Gold “300-Year” CD-R. As opposed to standard CD-Rs that can go bad within a few years due to environmental elements like humidity and ultraviolet light, the gold disks are rated to last more than 300 years (since they haven’t quite had 300 years to test this out, they’re basing their claims on an “accelerated aging process” test)."
[via Engadget]
How Not To Fire A Gun
A funny clip of a man trying to fire a shotgun. Having never fired a gun before I think the same would happen to me. [via santoAlt]
The 26 Stages Of Death
I didn't realise that there were 26 stages of death. Stage 5 is interesting...
5) The body's temperature will typically drop 1.5 degrees F. per hour unless outside environment is a factor. The liver is the organ that stays warmest the longest, and this temperature is used to establish time of death if the body is found within that time frame.
[via Linkfilter]
Work Is Hard In Japan
Work is hard in Japan. So hard, in fact, that workers tend to fall asleep in some strange places. This site has a lot of pictures of workers asleep on the train, in the train stations, restaurants even in the middle of the street.
Teeth Are The Key To A Good Memory
IOL: When teeth go out, memory goes too
When your dentist pulls an aching tooth he could be yanking out some of your memory at the same time, according to a new Swedish study to be presented in Stockholm on Friday.
"Teeth appear to be of the utmost importance to our memories," said Jan Bergdahl, an associate psychology professor at the Umeaa University in northern Sweden, a dentist and one of the authors of the study.
"When people have no teeth their memories are clearly worse than when they have teeth," Bergdahl said.
While the Swedish research has yet to unveil what impact pulling a single tooth has on the human memory, Bergdahl said that "going forward, we plan to look into how many teeth a person has to lose before it affects their memory. We will also investigate how tooth decay affects memory loss, and what affect tooth implants have".
Dr Who Fan Buried In Tardis Coffin
Dr Who fan Tim Haws makes his final journey — in a coffin shaped like the telly timelord’s TARDIS.
Artist Tim, killed by cancer at 43, had a life-long love of the sci-fi classic, famed for Who’s foes the Daleks.
So when he died, brother-in-law Peter Brooker converted a closet he was making into the time machine casket. - The Sun
Polar Bear Has Fun With Pumpkin
A polar bear at the San Diego Zoo gets into the Halloween spirit as he plays with a pumpkin Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004, at the Zoo's Polar Bear Plunge. Kalluk, a 735-pound sub-adult male bear pounced on, tackled and hugged the large plastic jack-o-lantern which provided him hours of amusement. - Yahoo!
Man Disappointed With Lizard Curry
Yahoo! In-flight lizard meal lands Indian airline in court
The lizard biryani served on a Jet Airways flight in India proved just too spicy for a startled passenger who is taking the private carrier to court.
The airline admitted in a statement published Friday that it had launched an inquiry into how the two-inch lizard came to be cooked and served up to businessman Ashok Sharma.
Food Fight Erupts In Taiwanese Parliament
A food fight erupted in Taiwan's "parliament" on Tuesday as lawmakers quarrelling over a massive arms budget hurled their lunch boxes at each other.
"You've got no shame!" screamed Chu Fong-chih of the opposition Nationalist Party, after throwing a take-out box of chicken and rice at Chen Tsung-yi, a legislator from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who backed the special budget.
Chen responded by accusing Chu of sympathizing with Beijing, and flung his own lunch box at her.
Taiwan's "parliament" is notorious for fistfights, with many lawmakers enjoying the media attention when scuffles break out. Chairs and shoes have also been known to fly across the chamber on occasion. - ChinaDaily
Tomy Dog Collar Cam
Yahoo! Japanese to get dogs' view of world with digital collar-camera
Japanese dog lovers will get to see the world from the perspective of their pets with a digital camera attached to their companions' collars.
It can take pictures by using a remote control, letting owners "enjoy pictures from dogs' view," the company said.
Or owners can put on a time switch taking pictures at intervals of one minute to one hour.
"You can check where your beloved dog is or what it is looking at while you are away from home," the firm said in a statement.
The camera can take up to 90 pictures of 350,000 pixels.
Friday, October 29, 2004
CWShredder Returns
"CWShredder, the only free program known to successfully detect and remove all variants of the Cool Web Search browser hijacker, is back in the fight. After its developer, Dutch college student Merijn Bellekom, called it quits this past June, CWShredder was no longer being updated. Now, Merijn has licensed the CWShredder source code and rights to Intermute, a provider of Internet security and content filtering solutions and developer of SpySubtract PRO."
The CWShredder application is packaged with the commercial application SpySubtract Pro but Intermute have done the good thing and offered it as a separate free download. [via Linkfilter]
Optimized Firefox & Thunderbird Builds
Moox have a selection of Firefox and Thunderbird builds that have been optimised for different groups of processors. By rebuilding the browser and email client for different groups of processors, stability and speed are increased. [via .Net Junkies Blog]
Would-Be Cop Hid Wood In Hair
Ananova: Would-be cop hid wood in hair
An Indian man was arrested for hiding a piece of wood in his hair to meet the minimum height requirement to join the police.
Suspicious officers made Gajendra Kharatmal take the height test again and the wood popped out of his hair, reports Mid-Day newspaper.
Officials of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission in Mumbai say Kharatmal reached the 5ft 3ins mark exactly when he first stood at the scale.
An examiner said: "So we asked him to stand there once again. The second time, we felt something hard hidden in his hair and discovered a piece of wood."
Kharatmal was arrested on charges of cheating and is currently out on bail.
Grand Theft Auto Ported To The NES
"Grand Theftendo is a port of Grand Theft Auto III for the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is Grand Theft Auto III running on an 8 bit, 256x240 resolution, 2 bit colour x 2 bit palette, 1.79 Mhz system, written entirely in 6502 Assembly Language! It includes the entire Portland city!"
The project has taken almost two years and is not quite complete. The guy who did it must be a genius! [via Linkfilter]
Woman Digs Up Dead Ex-Boyfriend, Drinks Beer Buried With Him
StarTribune: Woman accused of stealing dead boyfriend's remains, beer
Sheriff's officials have arrested a woman for digging up her dead boyfriend's ashes more than 10 years ago and drinking the beer that was buried with him, possibly out of spite for his family. Karen Stolzmann, now 44, was arrested Tuesday in a case Columbia County Detective Wayne Smith calls ``twisted and bizarre.''
Michael Hendrickson, 27, died in 1992 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His family contacted authorities three weeks ago because they found out his remains had been stolen.
An exhumation revealed Hendrickson's cremated remains were missing from Cambria Cemetery in Columbia County. Beer and cigarettes that were buried with him were also missing.
Some of Hendrickson's memorabilia was also recovered, but Smith believes Stolzmann drank the beer buried with the remains.
Instant Death And A $200 Fine
So how does this one work? [via Boing Boing]
Ticket of corpse punched
The Sun: Ticket of corpse punched
A train conductor carefully punched the ticket of a “sleeping” passenger — unaware the man was dead.
The rail worker spotted the respectable-looking man on his train, apparently fast asleep and clutching a £12 ticket.
Rather than wake him, he prised the day return from his fingers, punched it, then gently slid it back into the passenger’s hand.
The kindly conductor then continued down the train, congratulating himself on not disturbing the elderly passenger.
It was only 15 minutes later when the train from Scarborough pulled in at York that workers realised the “dozing” man was the only person who had not disembarked.
Rail staff tried to wake him before realising he was not breathing.
Family's Missing Dog Gatecrashes Football Game
BBC: Canine pitch invader back at home
The Burn family in Dublin had begun to fear they might never again see their beloved Jack Russell terrier, Brock.
When Martin Burn settled down to watch the second Test of the International Rules series on Sunday on TV, he could barely believe what he saw.
There was much hilarity among the 60,000 crowd at the game, as a small dog got onto the pitch and chased the ball.
He recognised the pitch invader as the family pet, and the dog was eventually returned home.
[via Andrew Denny]
Thursday, October 28, 2004
The World's Fastest Computer...And It's Not Even Running At Top Speed
The Register: NASA's Columbia benchmarks 43 teraflops
NASA's Project Columbia supercomputer, which went online yesterday, has clocked a top speed of 42.7 teraflops, or 42.7 trillion floating point calculations per second.
Recent progress in the super computing field means that the current Top 500 list of the world's best performing super computers is well and truly out of date. Last month, IBM published benchmark results for its BlueGene machine that put it just ahead of the long standing No. 1 performer, the Japanese Earth Simulator.
Mere weeks passed before NEC announced a new machine with a theoretical top speed of 65 teraflops, which would obliterate the 36 teraflops achieved by BlueGene. However, this number is still theoretical, and because there is often a substantial gap between theory and practice, supercomputers must complete a series of calculations known as the Linpack benchmark to qualify for a chart ranking.
NASA's new machine, named in honour of the crew of the Columbia space shuttle, passed this benchmark test with flying colours, operating at 88 per cent efficiency, NASA said.
Chav Links
Great site with lots of Chav links.
Google Desktop Search Tips
This site has a few tips for using Google Desktop Search. The best one, although not a true GDS tip, is this one.
The current version of Google Desktop Search doesn't index the cache of your Firefox browsing. They'll add it I'm sure because people are screaming. Anyway, go get this extension: Slogger
It lets you keep copies of the webpages you visit. As it does, your Google Desktop will index them.
You can have it log every page you visit or log a page on demand by clicking a button in your button bar.
[via Zorgloob]
Bill Gates Is 49 Today
What would you buy a man who is the richest in the world and could buy whatever he wants?
Extension Uninstaller For Firefox
Here's a useful tool for easily uninstalling Firefox extensions. [via Linkfilter]
Man Superglued Condom To Penis
Ananova: Man superglued condom to penis
A Romanian father-of-five needed medical help after he superglued a condom to his penis.
He and his wife decided to use contraception but the condom they bought was too big so he stuck it on with glue.
After sex, the man realised he couldn't remove the condom and went to his village's medical clinic for help.
A nurse said: "He even said that he thought the condom could be used several times and that he wanted it stuck on his penis so he could use it again later. We barely managed to remove it in the end."
The Flying Car/Motorbike
What happens if you cross a gyrocopter with a car and a motorbike?
The PALV. A personal air and land vehicle. A solution to increasing congestion in our cities, highways and skyways.
On the ground, the slim line, aerodynamic 3-wheel vehicle is as comfortable as a luxury car. But has the agility of a motorbike, thanks to its patented cutting-edge ‘tilting’ system. The single rotor and propeller are folded away until the PALV is ready to fly.
Airborne, the PALV flies under the 4,000 feet (1,500 m) floor of commercial air space. With land and air space reaching capacity, this is some of the last free space.
The PALV is highly fuel-efficient and powered by an environmentally certified car engine. It runs on petrol like a conventional car and can reach speeds of up to 200 km/h both on land and in the air.
The full press release can be read here and more images can be found here and here.
Zany President To Build Ice Palace In The Desert
Russia Makes It Funny: President of Turkmenistan to build ice chateau in the desert
Saparmurat Niyazov, the President of Turkmenistan, said in his appearance on a local television channel that he would build an ice chateau in the mountains near the capital of Ashkhabad. The capital is situated in an oasis in the Kara Kum desert. Niyazov, who is also known as Turkmenbashi, stated that the ice chateau would become the new face of Turkmenistan.
The Turkmen president believes that the spacious and beautiful chateau will house up to 1,000 people. The building will be connected with Ashkhabad with a cable-way. "There will be cafes and restaurants there, our children will learn to skate there," Niyazov said.
Welsh Co. Offers Takeaway Roast Dinners
BBC: British roast meals on wheels
The classic British Sunday roast usually means hours of peeling vegetables, meat carving and a mountain of washing up.
But for people living in Cardiff there is now an alternative, after what is thought to be one of the first British food takeaways opened up.
Traditional British meals are being offered for delivery in the city by a company called Ring-a-Roast.
Roast dinners with the trimmings are among the meals on the menu.
