Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Google/Youtube merger was nearly interrupted by a police officer on patrol

David Drummond, Google's head of corporate development, and Gideon Yu, then YouTube's CFO, now Facebook's, spent the night hashing out the deal in the restaurant. They then began signing the term papers in Denny's parking lot around 3 a.m.

A local police officer was patrolling the area at that same moment. The cop saw the Asian-American Yu and African-American Drummond, dressed casually in jumpsuits and baseball hats -- standard uniforms for late and long negotiations -- huddled over the hood of a car signing the paperwork.
Read what happened next.

Natural Field Turf Soda

Jones Soda is at it again. The new NFL-themed flavors are Dirt, Sports Cream, Perspiration, Natural Field Turf, and Sweet Victory. Natural Field Turf Soda is described as "like playing tackle football, and you get tackled really hard, you're down on the ground and you get a little bit of the grass in your teeth."
 Follow the link for a description of the other flavors.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Scientists sent Salmonella into space, and it came back much deadlier

After the shuttle returned, mice were given varying oral doses of the salmonella and then were watched.

After 25 days, 40% of the mice given the Earth-bound salmonella were still alive, compared with just 10% of those dosed with the germs from space. And the researchers found it took about one-third as much of the space germs to kill half the mice, compared with the germs that had been on Earth.
Link.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Coming Very Soon: One Laptop Per Child


Our mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries have little resources to devote to education—sometimes less than $20 a year per child. Imagine the potential that could be unlocked by giving every child in the world the tools they need to learn, no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter how little they may have.

If you'd like to donate an XO laptop today, simply click the donation button on the right, above the photo. A donation of $200 will pay for and deliver one XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, $400 will pay for and deliver two XO laptops, and so on.

Starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child will be offering a Give 1 Get 1 Program for a brief window of time. For $399, you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home. If you're interested in Give 1 Get 1, we'll be happy to send you a reminder email. Just sign up in the box to the left and you'll receive your reminder prior to the November 12 launch date.
Link.

Bathroom scale tells you your weight in terms of celebrities

Available for purchase here.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Hyundai boss too important to be jailed

In South Korea, the rule of law was no match for the strength of Hyundai Motor Co.

Convicted of embezzling $110 million, Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo was deemed too important to South Korea's economy to be sent to prison, an appeals court ruled late Thursday.
Link.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Greg Packer, the man that gets quoted by newspapers

From an AP memo:
The world is full of all kinds of interesting people. One of them is Greg Packer of Huntington, N.Y., who apparently lives to get his name on the AP wire and in other media. It works: A Nexis search turned up 100 mentions in various publications.

We ourselves have quoted Mr. Packer while he was:

– visiting the site of the former Studio 54 in New York City in 1996
– the first person in line for a White House tour on George Bush’s inauguration day in 2001
– attending an XFL football game in New Jersey in 2001 (and at many more East Coast sporting events)
– opining in Times Square on subjects ranging from the millennium to the war in Iraq
– sporting a bright green wig and a painted green mustache at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade this year
– the first person in line to buy Hillary Clinton’s book at a New York City book signing earlier this week
Read more.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight cover

By Chip Kidd.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Interview with The Price Is Right's Wardrobe Stylist


While the enduring formula of The Price Is Right still too easily equates the models – that is, women – with the shiny, or dully domestic, objects they present, there is another, more progressive constant: Barker is an animal-rights activist, which means no fur, leather, or feathers are allowed on the costumes, not even fakes. "He didn't even want us to put the suggestion out there," Gurney says, and describes making a cat costume out of (vegan) Polar Fleece. "You really have to stretch your imagination, especially when it applies to something like Eskimos [when] fur is really what they wore.

...

The Price is Right is known for having beautiful girls and sexy girls on the show, but it's on at 10 a.m. and it's very popular with families, all ages. The show is very popular in the Bible Belt, and grandmas watch with their granddaughters, so you have to find a way to convey sexiness without being too loud about it.
Read the whole thing.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Florida doctors wear "moon suits" to hide their identities during executions

At all Florida lethal injections, a man in a purple moon suit leans over the dying inmate to listen for a heartbeat and feel for a pulse

...

The man is a doctor and the gear shields his identity — not just from the prisoner's family and friends, but from the American Medical Association, whose code of ethics bars members from participating in executions.
Link.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

"I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader Again."

CMT enlists Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders trainer Jay Johnson to whip 10 women back into their high school cheerleading shape in the new series, I WANT TO LOOK LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADER AGAIN, premiering in October on CMT. Production on the eight episode series is currently underway in Los Angeles. Over a ten week period, Johnson will work to restore the athletic physique of these former high school cheerleaders and transform their lives with the help of his wife Lin and his tough Army-style fitness regimen.
Link.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Stuart Little Ad

"To inform people that the Lowry Theatre was staging performances of the Stuart Little play, ambient Mouseholes were stuck on walls around the City of Manchester."