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.

Showtime puts a fountain of blood in Los Angeles to promote Dexter

More photos and info here.

Sun Tattoo

Read about it here.

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.

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.