Archive for June, 2011

Lights Out: Seven-and-a-half minutes of a robotic hog head dropper decapitating dead pigs.

Warning: Contains seven-and-a-half minutes of a robotic hog head dropper decapitating dead pigs.

You have been warned.

[eater.]

Today On TDW: Geek –

• Above: “Pac-Man Highway“: Pac-Man and David Lynch — together at last.

• Mark Zuckerberg joins Google+, Facebook announces “something awesome.”

• Julian Assange stars in WikiLeaks spoof of MasterCard ads.

• George R.R. Martin’s UK publisher begs fans not to spoil A Dance With Dragons after mixup ships books early.

• All of Middle Earth made of Lego.

• Every Michael Bay movie in under a minute.

• A Japanese dental patient robot designed by a love doll company? Naturally.

• The possible purpose of pruney fingers.

This x That:

Know This:

• Justice Department to drop rendition probe, will launch limited investigation into torture.

• Senate confirms Gen. David H. Petraeus as new CIA director with 94-0 vote.

• Mark Halperin suspended indefinitely from MSNBC for calling President Obama a “dick” on the air. 

• Glenn Beck ends two-and-a-half-year run on Fox News; replacement show to feature “five rotating Fox personalities.”

• NBA expected to lock out players at midnight tonight.

Read This:

• Report: Leading climate change skeptic funded studies with money from US oil and coal companies.

• Southwest Airlines pilot apologizes for now-infamous stuck-mic rant.

• Woody Allen doesn’t own a word processor, is not a gadget person.

• Jonathan Rhys Meyers may or may not have attempted to kill himself.

Look At This:

• Mysterious flash observed in Hawaii may have been a missile launch.

• Is this $100m ATM receipt legit?

The Other:

• NewsFeed: Mother-In-Law’s E-mail Rant to ‘Bad Mannered’ Bride Goes Viral.

• Tea x Time List: 265 TV Marathons & Specials for 4th of July Weekend 2011.

• Above: The “Lullaby” slumber show at the Barbican in London — a sleepover for adults, complete with breakfast in the morning. (via.)

Diehard Women’s Football Fan of the Day: I’m no expert on body language, but this gentlemen seems rather unhappy about Equatorial Guinea missing a scoring opportunity during yesterday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup matchup against Norway.

[tosh / thd.]

Anti-Government Protest of the Day: French president Nicolas Sarkozy was assaulted today at a public appearance in the town of Brax in southwestern France.

A 32-year-old municipal theater worker from nearby Agen grabbed the diminutive leader by the lapel of his suit and slammed him against a metal barrier before being tackled by security. Sarkozy emerged from the attack unscathed, telling reporters “no problem, no problem.”

The assailant, Hermann Fuster, was interrogated by police for motive, but none have so far been released to the press. No charges will be brought against him.

[thelede / telegraph / pk.]

World’s Longest Over-Water Bridge of the Day: Succeeding the 24-mile-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway as the world’s longest bridge over open water, China’s Jiaozhou Bay bridge, which opened today after four years of construction, clocks in at a reststop-demanding 26.3 miles.

The $2.3 billion bridge links the port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao, trimming drive time by up to 30 minutes.

According to the BBC, the bridge is six miles longer than the English Channel at it narrowest point.

[npr / bbc / dvice.]

Afternoon Snack: Sweet dance move, dawg.

[websoup / laughingsquid.]

Slo-Mo Thing of the Day: PopSci celebrates Independence Day by filming fireworks blow sh*t up at 2,000 frames-per-second on a Phantom v641 ultra-high-speed video camera.

Just as the Founding Fathers intended.

[popsci.]

America’s Got A Susan Boyle of the Day: It’s the annual “March of the Susan Boyle-Alikes” in the US again, and an early contender for this year’s title is Cindy Chang — a 42-year-old homemaker who snorts when she laughs and whose parents shot down her dream of becoming a professional singer.

[vvv.]

In Case You Missed It of the Day: Conan “accidentally” double-booked two comedians — Jon Dore and Rory Scovel — for last night’s show.

Solution: Have them go on together.

[teamcoco / joemande.]

See Also: “Weird Al” Yankovic sings the “never-before-heard” lyrics to Conan’s theme music.