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Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sun 17 Dec , 2017 8:13 pm
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Just what people need - another reason to move less. And here I thought remote controls for portable fans were the ultimate in laziness.

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Mon 18 Dec , 2017 2:14 pm
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It did occur to me that it would help people with mobility issues. But yeah, most of us would benefit from a fridge that runs away if we are already over the calorie allowance.

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Wed 27 Dec , 2017 9:55 am
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I am not the biggest fan of recreational DNA testing, but this is pretty cool.

Decades-Long Friends Learn They're Biological Brothers

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Fri 29 Dec , 2017 2:17 am
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That is really cool! :)

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sun 14 Jan , 2018 9:04 am
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Well, that was certainly weird and unusual. Although the first time ever when I was happy to not be in Hawaii.

Hawaii Officials Mistakenly Warn of Inbound Missile
Quote:
The emergency alert sent to cellphones said in all caps, “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”

...

It took almost 40 minutes for an official statement to come out about the alert.

The incident prompted defense agencies including the Pentagon and the U.S. Pacific Command to issue the same statement, that they had “detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii.”

Michael Kucharek, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command are still trying to verify what happened in Hawaii — but that “NORAD did not see anything that indicated any sort of threat to Hawaii.”

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sun 14 Jan , 2018 1:30 pm
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I saw that. WTF, really?!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Tue 16 Jan , 2018 11:50 pm
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Check this link out, which is relevant to recent events, and makes fun of crappy design:

https://gfycat.com/ChubbyDeafeningAfricanelephant

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sun 25 Feb , 2018 1:20 pm
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Some news from Stephen Fry:



It's been well over a year since my last check-up. I'd better get on that next week.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Wed 28 Feb , 2018 11:35 pm
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Only in the U.S.
(At least, I hope these particular lunatics don't exist elsewhere!)

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... g-ceremony
Quote:
A Pennsylvania church on Wednesday held a blessing ceremony for couples and their AR-15 rifles.

The World Peace and Unification Sanctuary hosted the event, at which couples wearing white dresses and dark suits renewed their vows and received blessings on their unloaded firearms, according to the Chicago Tribune.

...The group views AR-15s as religious symbols, and has previously held events featuring the rifles.

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Thu 08 Mar , 2018 11:25 pm
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I saw that. Completely ridiculous and disturbing.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Fri 09 Mar , 2018 1:53 am
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I know. On the one hand, I'm rolling my eyes and wanting to laugh at this bizarre ritual. On the other, anyone who views their gun as a religious symbol doesn't seem sane enough to own one.

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Fri 09 Mar , 2018 4:15 pm
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It's possible the emphasis on guns is a marketing ploy. Their leader's brother is a gun manufacturer.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/in ... _is_b.html
Quote:
Who was the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of Unification Church?
Moon, Sanctuary Church leader, is the son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who founded the Unification Church.

The elder Moon was a "Korean evangelist, businessman and self-proclaimed messiah who built a religious movement notable for its mass weddings, fresh-faced proselytizers and links to vast commercial interests," The New York Times said following his death in 2012. He was 92.

Sanctuary Church is a splinter offshoot of the Unification Church, whose followers are sometimes called "Moonies," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center that tracks hate groups are the United States.

The center refers to the church as a cult, a term also ascribed to Unification Church itself. Unification Church has distanced itself from Wednesday's event, saying its ceremonies and theology do not involve weapons.

"It saddens us that Reverend Moon's son has chosen to separate himself and walk in opposition to his parent's legacy building world peace," the Rev. Richard Buessing, president of Family Federation, another name for the Unification Church, said in a statement.

The Rev. Sean Moon's brother, Justin Moon, founded Kahr Firearms Group, a gun manufacturer based in Greeley, Pennsylvania, in Pike County. Kahr owns Auto-Ordnance, maker of the "Tommy Gun" semiautomatic rifle, and Magnum Research Inc., known for the Desert Eagle line of handguns.


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Jude
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Fri 09 Mar , 2018 11:32 pm
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'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli gets 7 years in securities fraud case

I have to confess to being guilty of schadenfreude, especially when I read this:
Quote:
The smirk wiped off his face, a crying Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison for securities fraud Friday in a hard fall for the pharmaceutical-industry bad boy vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug.
Mind you, the case was not about jacking up the price of a life-saving drug, for which he is universally hated; it was about an unrelated securities fraud case.

Also:
Quote:
His own lawyer confessed to wanting to punch him in the face sometimes.

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sun 11 Mar , 2018 5:26 am
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Him and 200 million other people.

I don't even know where to put this, so here it goes.

Obama in Talks to Provide Shows for Netflix

The article makes some interesting points.

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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Tue 20 Mar , 2018 1:56 pm
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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... you/554087
Quote:
Can a Simple Test Match You With Your Perfect Dog?
Chaz is a free spirit. Iris is a good girl looking for love. Dylan is a foodie who isn’t sure how he feels about kids. Luke likes long walks—really long walks. All of them are ready for a long-term relationship. In fact, they’d like to move in right away. All of them are dogs.

Taking a cue from dating websites, a number of programs have begun using personality tests to pair pets with owners. For example, PawsLikeMe, a website described by a co-founder as “eHarmony for people and pets,” gives humans a questionnaire to gauge their lifestyle and expectations, then returns dating-site-style bios of rescue dogs.

...Human–animal matchmaking may sound fanciful, but it mirrors a renewed scientific interest in animal personality. Having moved beyond the fear of anthropomorphism associated with researchers like Jane Goodall (who was ridiculed for “inventing” personality traits for chimps in the 1950s and ’60s), scientists are actively exploring animal personality’s implications for everything from daily care to evolution. As John Shivik, the author of Mousy Cats and Sheepish Coyotes, points out, a species’ survival depends on diversity, including of personality. “If you don’t have variation, you will go extinct,” he says, noting that traits that are advantageous in one situation may not be in another.


And, on a more sober note, the Atlantic discusses the real limitations of self-driving car technology after the second death from a self-driving car (the first where a pedestrian killed by one). Needless to say, it's nowhere near as good as the companies promoting it have claimed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... na/556001/
Quote:
As the National Transportation Safety Board opens an inquiry into the latest crash, it’s a good time for a critical review of the technical literature of self-driving cars. This literature reveals that autonomous vehicles don’t work as well as their creators might like the public to believe.
btw, self-driving trucks are already on the road, without news media pointing out any of the risks.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/technol ... utonomous/
Quote:
Uber self-driving trucks are now hauling freight
The tech company announced Tuesday that it has begun using its self-driving trucks to haul freight on Arizona's highways. The trucks continue to have a human driver behind the wheel as a backup to take control of the vehicle as needed.

Eventually, Uber plans for these trucks to operate without a human present.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/9/17100 ... le-atlanta
Quote:
Waymo’s self-driving trucks will start delivering freight in Atlanta
The Google spinoff has its chips cashed in

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Sat 24 Mar , 2018 5:18 pm
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That freaks me out, inky. :(

But I do like the concept of using the Big Five to personality match pets and humans. :D

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Frelga
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Mon 26 Mar , 2018 3:21 am
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Our friend the Mad Rocketeer finally did launch himself in his steam powered rocket and survived the launch.

At Long Last, Flat Earth Rocketeer Finally Manages to Blast Himself Into Sky at God Knows What Speed

With videos.

Bonus track - an interesting discussion in the comments about what constitutes a ghost town, winding up with this travelogue.
Quote:
We used to spend our weekends exploring actual ghost towns in the Southwest. Until we hit our third meth lab and said “fuck it”.

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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Mon 26 Mar , 2018 6:31 pm
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I'm really hoping they have the kinks worked out of self driving cars before I'm old enough to need one.


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MariaHobbit
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Tue 27 Mar , 2018 3:37 pm
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Apparently there's a shortage of human truckers.
https://news.thomasnet.com/featured/tru ... =225285797

That's probably why the autonomous trucks are getting approved so fast.


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aninkling
Post subject: Re: Weird and Unusual News Stories- Join In.
Posted: Tue 27 Mar , 2018 5:15 pm
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I assume it's all about profits - cheaper than paying a person.

Most of these tests seem to be happening in states like Arizona, where legislators have pretty much said - sure, come try out your autonomous trucks and cars here, we're not regulating them.


And on the not-so-bright (human) side:

http://www.businessinsider.com/san-fran ... irs-2018-3
Quote:
A San Francisco Uber got stuck on stairs after driving down a pedestrian walkway

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Society can and does execute its own mandates, and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. ― John Stuart Mill


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