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Sunday, August 17, 2008

How To Fly With Pot

Nothing makes for a relaxing vacation like toking on some dank sh*t. But if your plans involve flying, getting your stash from home to your destination involves breaking quite a few laws. So to keep you from having to track down a dealer when you’re from out of town–never a good plan–we’ve laid out exactly how to sneak a bit on board without the Department of Homeland security shoving a German shepherd up your a**. But remember, if you still get caught, we’ve never met…

Find out how to fly with pot after the break!

1. Bigger the bag the bigger the bust: Don’t be greedy–any more than a gram or two, and you’re asking for it.

2. Wrap it up: Seal the gram in a tightly wrapped ball of saran wrap, then insert the nugs into a very small ziplock bag. (If your dealer doesn’t use these, many head shops and jewelry shops will have them. They are also often included with new electronics to hold batteries or small screws.) Before you seal the bag, press the saran ball and bag with a heavy book to minimize the bulkiness. And remember, ONLY CARRY ONE BAG–multiple bags is considered “intent to distribute,” a much bigger penalty, if you get caught.

3. The fifth pocket: Insert the sealed nugget into your fifth pocket of a pair of jeans, which never gets searched. If you’ve done step 2 correctly, it shouldn’t feel any different on the outside than four quarters (25 cent pieces–not an ounce). As an added precaution, put something small, like a piece of gum or candy, on top of your stash, so if you can pull something out of that pocket if asked–but that probably won’t happen.

4. No Metal:
Remove all metal from your body, period–belt, jewelry, phone, iPod, anything. Stow all your personal items in your carry-on before hand, so you have nothing to worry about going through the metal detector. Remember, they’re looking for terrorists, not pot smokers with a small personal stash.

5. Ready, Move: Once situated on the plane, go to the lavatory and move the bag from your fifth pocket to the inside of your shoe. The smell of your feet/socks will disguise any lingering odor. If you have packed your bag well, this is not an essential step. But good pot smells no matter how well it’s packed. To help further mask the weed scent, wear two day old socks for extra stink. Or you can opt for a stout fragrance like patucculi. But that’s also a good way to let everyone know you’re damn hippy. Happy flying!

The Ass-ential Nastia Liukin

The perfect weapon–vicious talent, inhuman flexibility, super hotness–Anastasia “Nastia” Valeryevna Liukin reigns as star of the 2008 US women’s gymnastics team at the Beijing Summer Games.

With nine World Championship medals already in the bag–and a fresh Olympic gold, which she earned Thursday night in the women’s gymnastics overall competition–this 18-year-old comes from an immaculate pedigree, her father winning Olympic gold at the ‘88 Games on the horizontal bars for the Soviets, her mother a World Champion rhythmic Russian gymnast.

And on top of all those skills is a blond bombshell that makes us wish we were chalk boys…or something. But were not, so we did what we do best–a wall of split-rific pics of the all around awesomeness that is Nastia Liukin. And now, The Ass-ential Nastia Liukin.

Kevin Smith Has Seen Watchmen: “It’s F**king Astounding”

"At the Entertainment Weekly Visionaries panel at Comic Con, writer/director Kevin Smith was raving hard about the Watchmen footage which had premiered at the Con. Kevin Smith has seen Watchmen. And while he couldn’t give the film a full review due to a NDA, he did have a couple things to say about the film..."

read more | digg story

WTF!! Burger King Tray Liners Feature Cartoon Showing Boobs

Maybe Burger King in Germany isn't the same sort of "kid centric" destination that it is over here? Idea Sandbox has made some um, interesting observations about their "Veg City" tray liners. This one is employs the "airport screening" metaphor to suggest that BK doesn't let any shady veggies into their food.

Our sister site Kotaku says the campaign is based in Germany and meant to parody "Vice City" and Grand Theft Auto, and there's even a mini-sniper game on the campaign's website.

Anyway, is it weird that we feel really bad for the onion? He's being humiliated! What did he do to deserve this? Maybe it's his choice in reading material...

Here's a close up: Don't onions deserve privacy?

You can view the entire liner here. And view some reaction from the crowd at Metafilter, here.

What Is Burger King Thinking? [Idea Sandbox]

Just what’s on Michael Phelps’ iPod anyway?

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady

I don’t know about you but I’ve been spending a lot of time enjoying the Michael Phelps Show, er, Summer Olympics this week.

One thing that piqued my interested was the world’s greatest athlete’s choice in music player. In practically every shot of him at the pool Phelps can be seen wearing the iconic white earbuds that are attached to, what else, but an Apple iPod.

So what does the human dolphin listen to before winning Olympic gold medals and breaking world records?

According to the Today Show on 12 August, 2008:

What did I have on today? I think I had Lil Wayne, “I’m Me.” I
think I had that on there

Roger Catlin makes some inferences on 10 August 10, 2008:

Before his 400 meter individual medley in the 2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens, Michael Phelps was listening to Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” on
his ever-present iPod to help him focus. What’s he listening to as he wins gold in Beijing? Nobody has said for certain, but he has said in his own website that he was listening to Young Jeezy at the World Championships in Melbourne. If he was still listening to Young Jeezy in China, the applicable titles might have been:

  • “The Inspiration (Follow Me)”
  • “Soul Survivor”
  • “Tear It Up”
  • “Let’s Get It / Sky’s the Limit”
  • “Get Ya Mind Right”
  • “I Love It”
  • “Go Getta”
  • “Thug Motivation 101″
  • “And Then What”

12/8 Terra weighs in on 8 August, 2008 with some selections from Phelps Hit List on Rhapsody which includes the following tracks:

  1. Overnight Celebrity by Twista
  2. Burn by Usher
  3. Roses by Outkast
  4. ‘Till I Collapse by Eminem
  5. Smile by G Unit

Regardless of the music Phelps is an obvious phenom, up there with Tiger, Jordan and Gretzky. Apple should step up and offer him a nice contract to endorse the iPod – and they should do it now before Nike signs him up to a long term exclusive endorsement deal.


Tony Stark Does A Bruce Wayne In Deleted Iron Man Scene

Just how hard was it for Iron Man to get its PG rating? Here's one of the sequences that had to disappear: Tony Stark orders poor put-upon Pepper Potts to organize a last-minute party at his house in Dubai. Then, after some painfully awkward party dialog that probably should have been cut, he ends up with three hotties in his bed.

read more | digg story

10 Movies Sold on a Sex Scene

Everyone knows that sex sells. And hundreds, if not thousands, of films have been marketed with sex. But here I've selected ten interesting cases of how a sex scene -- or many -- affected their respective film's ability to attract an audience.

There apparently are other reasons to see Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona besides the infamous lesbian kiss between Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz or the threesome between these actresses and Javier Bardem. But as the first things most of us heard about the movie, the sex scenes are certainly a big sell (the ménage à trois is even being used in a promotional contest to win a “threesome” with ScarJo). Even if they’re reportedly underwhelming.

read more | digg story

Maxim's: The World´s Hottest Female Olympians


These 11 women could medal in any aesthetic competition. They might even make you almost care about the Olympics.

read more | digg story

MI-6 to CIA: 5 Top Secret Agencies (Who Want to Hire You)

Did you dream of growing up to be James Bond when you were a kid? Are you still dreaming of it? Lucky for you, becoming a spy doesn't involve getting thrown into a van with a blindfold. You can just apply on their website, like any other job.

read more | digg story

Listen To Your Home Music Library On Your iPhone With Simplifymedia

Simplify_logo


Simplify Media is an extraordinary new application which allows you to wirelessly connect to up to 30 people's computers in order to stream their music. And now with an iPhone version of the application, you can wirelessly listen to your home (or friends' home) computer music on-the-go. It's amazing!


Simplify_pic


The Simplify Media app allows you to enjoy your home music collection from work (or from anywhere) on the go. More importantly, you can access the music collection of up to 30 of your friends, and they can access yours -- as long as you approve each other first.

Here's a demo video:



The service is free, easy, universal, and fast. All you need to do is create a free account.

To access all your music from your iPhone & iPod Touch:

1. Download the Simplify Media app from the App Store [iTunes Link - free for first 100,000 users - $3.99 after that].

2. Start the app on your iPhone

Simplify2

3. Download Simplify Media onto your computer here (works with Windows, Mac, Linux)

4. Install the application and create a free account (remember your username and password)

5. Choose which music libraries you'd like to share (iTunes, WinAmp, your "Music" folder, etc...)

6. Log in on your iPhone using the same username and password from step 4

Simplify3

7. You will now see your library and the libraries of your added friends (Step #10 explains how to add friends)

Simplify4

8. Choose a library (your own or one of 30 friends), artist, and song

Simplify5

9. Ta Da!!! You are wirelessly listening to music from your home (or friend's home)! You can toggle between artist bio and lyrics.

Yes -- the app provides you with instant lyrics for every song.

10. To add a friend, press "Invite" and simply enter his Simplify Media screen name. You can also send an invite to a newbie via e-mail. All your incoming requests are displayed right in your Simplify Media window on your computer.


That's it for Simplify Media. It comes as no surprise that such an application was rated "Top 10 Downloads of 2007" by CNet. Just remember one thing. Before you accept friend requests, make sure you go and delete your old Backstreet Boys albums (or atleast hide them).

Hackers_tris


Developer of Tris (Tetris like Application) thanked hackers in the "about box" section of his application. Keep in mind that this application is part of the Apple's app store. [image]

Genetically-Engineered Trees Can Dissolve Themselves into Fuel

Worried about all the energy that's required to break poplar trees down into usable fuel? Never fear: We'll just stick some fungus genes into that poplar so that the tree can rapidly ferment itself as soon as it's chopped down. A self-fermenting tree can practically turn itself into fuel. That's exactly the kind of gene-hacking being proposed by geneticists at the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute in California. Eddy Rubin, director of the Institute, has just published a paper in Nature about how trees can be genetically-engineered to be biofuel-ready.

Says Rubin:

With the data that we are generating from plant genomes we can home in on relevant agronomic traits such as rapid growth, drought resistance, and pest tolerance, as well as those that define the basic building blocks of the plants cell wall—cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Biofuels researchers are able to take this information and design strategies to optimize the plants themselves as biofuels feedstocks—altering, for example, branching habit, stem thickness, and cell wall chemistry resulting in plants that are less rigid and more easily broken down

Rubin recommends the Clostridia species of fungus could be spliced into trees to make them self-fermenting. In the past, he has suggested splicing termite gut genes into trees so that they would essentially digest themselves and make biofuel processing easier.

I can't wait for a self-digesting apple so that I don't have to squash the things up to make my applesauce. I wouldn't mind eating a little bit of termite genome for that.

Genomics of Plant-Based Biofuels [via DOE JGI]

U.S. Wind Power Could Hit 150 Gigawatts by 2020

Written by Hank Green
Friday, 15 August 2008

A while back we reported (with some skepticism) a report coming out of China that said they would be producing over 100 gigawatts of wind by 2020, a 1,500% increase.

Little did I know that the United States was, at the same time, on track to actually beat that! A report from Emerging Energy Research, a cleantech consulting firm, points out that the U.S. is now the world's fastest growing market for wind power. Last year 5 gigawatts of wind power were installed, and 2008 will break the record again with 8 new gigawatts under construction. The U.S. will shortly be the world's largest producer of wind energy, surpassing Germany's 22 gigawatts.

If the rate of growth continues, and ideal wind energy areas are exploited, the report says we could hit 150 gigawatts of wind power by 2020! For those of you wondering how much power that is...the average coal plant produces about 800 megawatts of power. So this is enough to displace about 180 coal plants. That's a sizeable hunk of America's power generation!

Of course, a few obstacles could stand in the way. First, if the investment tax credit isn't renewed, the economics of wind power will change significantly. Second, right now there simply aren't enough manufacturing plants building wind turbines. GE already has already sold about $12 B of turbines that they have not yet produced. And in some areas the permitting process is greatly slowing the rate at which the plants come online.

History of Men's Style from the 1930s to 2008 (Slideshow)


An illustrated history of the last 75 years of men's fashion from double-breasted suits to modern formal wear. With some unfortunately large shoulder pads in between.

read more | digg story

Bolt surges to gold in new record

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Video - Bolt destroyed his rivals in Beijing on Saturday

Jamaican Usain Bolt left his rivals trailing to win gold in the Olympic 100m final with a new world record.

Bolt was well clear at 60m and although he eased down and started to celebrate 15 metres from the line, he still set a new mark of 9.69 seconds.

Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago was second while American Walter Dix came third but they were well adrift.

"My one aim was just to be a champion. That is what I came here to do," said the 21-year-old Bolt.

"I told you I was going to be number one and I did just that. I got a great start. I was getting good starts all the way up to the final. I was getting better and better.

I wasn't bragging... when I thought I had the field covered I was celebrating
Usain Bolt

"It was crazy - phenomenal."

Bolt, who becomes Jamaica's first men's 100m Olympic champion, insisted his decision to celebrate even before crossing the line was not designed to be disrespectful.

"I wasn't bragging," he said. "When I thought I had the field covered I was celebrating. I was happy."

As for setting a new world record, he added: "I didn't know I'd broken it until my victory lap.

"When I ran the earlier round I felt the world record was possible because it's a new track, it's fast. But I came out here just to win.

"I am just happy I did the country proud. I am Jamaica's first gold medallist, and I know the whole of Jamaica is going crazy."

BBC OLYMPICS BLOG
BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce

Bolt, who was in two minds about running the 100m until just a few weeks ago, took a call from Jamaica's prime minister Bruce Golding following his race.

"He said 'Congratulations' (and that) I had made the country proud and they are looking forward to me going home.

"I am looking forward to going home also. I did the country proud and that was the aim for me."

Bolt's Jamaican team-mate Asafa Powell had been tipped as a possible rival but finished in fifth place.

Powell told BBC Sport: "I messed up big time, my legs died on me. Usain ran an awesome race, I'm very happy for him.

100m RECORD EVOLUTION
Usain Bolt
9.69 U Bolt, Beijing 2008
9.72 U Bolt, New York 2008
9.74 A Powell, Rieti 2007
9.77 A Powell, Athens 2005
9.79 M Greene, Athens 1999
9.84 D Bailey, Atlanta 1996
9.85 L Burrell, Lausanne 1994
9.86 C Lewis, Tokyo 1991
9.90 L Burrell, New York 1991
9.92 C Lewis, Seoul 1988
9.93 C Smith, Colorado 1983
9.95 J Hines, Mexico 1968
"I'm not sure what happened, I just have to be happy for Usain. It's a sad time for me, I really wanted to get that gold medal. But its quite obvious I wasn't ready for the big stage yet."

Second-placed Thompson posted a time of 9.89 seconds while Dix was two-hundredths of a second back in third as six men broke the 10-second barrier.

"Words cannot describe how I feel right now, this is just a dream come true for me," Thompson told BBC Sport.

"I have to tip my hat to Usain Bolt, he's a great competitor, a phenomenal athlete, and there was no way anyone was going to beat him with a run like that.

"But it just feels good to come in here, run in the Olympic Games, my first Olympic Games, and win a silver medal and run a personal best at the same time. I couldn't ask for anything more, thank God."

Earlier this year, Bolt set a new world record of 9.72 seconds to take the record away from Powell, and the 21-year-old had looked in imperious form on his way to the final, which world champion Tyson Gay failed to qualify for.

Powell had also looked in fine form but from the gun it was clear there was only going to be one winner.

The only question was just how fast a time Bolt was going to set.

"I never knew I was going to run so fast," said the 6ft 5in star. "I didn't come here to break the world record - because I am the world-record holder."

Bolt believes he can go even faster, saying: "Anything is possible. The human body is changing so you never know."

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Video - Johnson stunned by Bolt run

Despite easing down well short of the line, Bolt took three-hundredths of a second off his previous record in a display American legend Michael Johnson described as "the greatest 100m performance in the history of the event".

Johnson, a multiple Olympic champion who still holds the 200m and 400m world records, told BBC Sport: "He shut down with 10m to go. We have never seen anything like it before.

"It's absolutely amazing. Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay cannot run with him. He is a show unto himself."

Bolt will now try to become the first man to complete the 100m-200m double since Carl Lewis at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

He will also target gold in the 4x100m relay.

"I have one aim now and that is to be a triple gold medallist," said Bolt, who will be back in action on Monday for the 200m heats.

The joy of simply faffing around

Tom Hodgkinson
The Guardian,
Wednesday August 13 2008
Article history

A woman relaxes with her eyes closed

Take some time out - it's not hurting anyone. Photograph: Getty

A new report says that we waste three hours a day faffing around, doing nothing in particular, pootling, dawdling, pottering, hanging about. The survey was carried out by the Learning and Skills Council, who, not surprisingly, argued we should instead use those three hours to Learn some Skills.

I beg to differ. Faffing is good. It is an important part of life. Faffing is when we disconnect from the matrix and idle for a while, like a car. Our body and spirit know deep down that human beings were not made for constant toil so subconsciously creates space through the mechanism of faffing.

Faffing of course does not fit the programme. We are supposed to be busy, productive citizens. Take the new BlackBerry ads. An unsmiling Teutonic model, a supreme non-faffer, boasts about the number of things he or she manages to get done in a day, thanks to their BlackBerry. Clearly these sorts of ideals are designed to make us faffers feel bad. Well, don't.

Embrace the faff. Stare out of the window. Bend paperclips. Stand in the middle of the room trying to remember what you came downstairs for. Pace. Drum your fingertips. Move papers around. Hum. Look at the garden. Go to the shed with the intention of tidying up and instead fall asleep. Make mental notes. Read every single word of the newspaper - even the job ads - before getting down to work. Lose yourself in erotic reveries. Pat your pockets. Resolve to be more organised in future. Be useless.

Faffing is completely harmless, whereas its opposite - dynamic, purposeful activity - is often very harmful. Faffers do not tend to kill people or make them work 12-hour days or sell them shoddy merchandise or lend them vast sums of money that they cannot pay back. In 1966, John Lennon memorably asked people to leave him alone because after all, he was only sleeping, and I urge the busybodies to do the same: after all, I'm only faffing.

· Tom Hodgkinson is the editor of the Idler