bitbol

In Moscow, the newest development idea appears like something that could take off at any moment. The planned structure looks like a UFO. The whole idea reminds me a little of the "tent" idea in Kazakhstan.

I am little perplexed by the location of the building though. Going off the image, it looks like the thing will be built on top of a highway. In our paranoia-stricken world, I thought that they would worry about the hazards of being over a road. like that. For one, a car in an accident could catch fire and set fire to the rest of the building. Who knows? This does look cool nonetheless.

Labels: Building, News, Oddities

Yes, feet. I can't always beat the game with hands and fingers:

[via engadget]

Labels: Nintendo, Oddities, People, Video, YouTube

Washington is now one of many states that have been debating the "definition of marriage." There was recently a Washington supreme court ruling that marriage "is for procreation." In response to that ruling, gay rights activists have proposed a law that would require all married couples to have kids within three years of marriage, or it would be annulled. From the article:

"The Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state could prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying because the state has a legitimate interest in preserving marriage for procreation."

The proposal is obviously not expected to pass, but does well in communicating the fact that marriage is not for procreation. Marriage, as many would agree, is more likely to be a result of a loving relationship, not the necessity for having children. This law proposal shows the absurdity of the court's ruling.

Labels: Gay, News, Oddities

Above is a picture of what Bostonians believed to be a bomb, causing all sorts of havoc around the city, and making headlines across the country. To top it all, none of the devices are bombs, but marketing for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, from Cartoon Network. The Boston bomb squad actually blew one device up. It is reported that these devices can be found in at least ten other cities, but only people in Boston noticed them.

Reported at:
BoingBoing
Engadget
Slashdot
Consumerist

Labels: Advertising, America, News, Oddities, People

Dubai may be creating what I would consider to be on of the coolest buildings built (or soon to be). They have a building planned that will rotate over the course of a week. Nothing would be cooler (in terms of horizons) than being able to look out and see a different skyline each night- a little variety.

This tower would not only be cool, but environmentally friendly as it will be powered by solar panels. Well, I guess you could say that it's not saving energy because the inhabitants of the building will use the same either way and that the tower doesn't need to spin, but where's the fun in that. If only I had the money, I would love to live in one of those.

Imagine the planning required to build an ordinary building. Now take that and try to find a way to spin it around safely. Not that building such a thing would be easy in the first place, they are also planning to build 23 just like it- one for each time zone in the world.

[via engadget]

Labels: Building, Oddities

Most recently, a Chicago family got a little surprise with their newly bought Zune, resulting in a Zune preloaded with gay sex videos, and the present was for their daughter. Walmart is pointing the finger at Microsoft, but nobody believes them. The box is reported to have been opened and a charger was missing. The father says the store just didn't check what was being returned.

Bank of America is back in the news again, this time because they refused to cash a check and demanded that a customer give a fingerprint. It's not like BofA is in the best position to be doing this. It seems that they are fairly money oriented, and a little too happy to use security officers.

Home Depot is even making the headlines after an older gentleman returned to his home to retrieve a gun after no one would help him. There is no way that you can deny anything is wrong with your store when people are ready to shoot things up because they are so tired of the customer service.

Labels: America, Kids, News, Oddities, People

Hopefully it was just a defunct one anyhow:

Labels: Apple, iPod, Oddities, Video, YouTube

In a very much mocking fashion, The Consumerist has a little bit on Verizon and math. In the past few days, they has been covering the Verizon math trouble. This is just the icing on the top to poke fun at them. Not even I could solve that, and I know the difference between dollars and cents.

The Consumerist also reports that the state of Florida sued AOL and won. The Florida Attorney General filed suit on behalf of the consumers after AOL's abusive customer treatment. They say that they are suing because AOL refused to cancel accounts, bad charges, and unauthorized account reactivations. Perhaps it's just me, but I think that AOL is going to go out of business in the somewhat near future.

Labels: Legal, News, Oddities, People

Not that Borat didn't do his part in promoting Kazakhstan, but they all now planning a pretty sweet building that would be impressive to see at the very least. On the official project page, they say that the builing is to be built to protect the inside from the harsh weather on the outside. I, at the very least, want to see this in person someday.

Labels: Building, Oddities

Copyright is beginning to claim the lives of films and documentaries. The National Film Board of Canada has said that because it costs so much to license the material used in the film, it will no longer make it available. From the article:

Thanks to spiralling copyright licensing costs, payable to whoever holds the copyright (unions, archives, creators, corporations) -- and thanks, too, to the rising cost of insurance to protect against copyright claims -- more and more public film footage is no longer available to the Canadian public, nor for use by Canadian creators. That's the message of the DOC's new white paper, released yesterday by the 700-member organization.

This is why the world should abolish copyright. They are taking out a film because of outrageous costs. Anything associated with copyright almost always fails to win the public (read: RIAA and MPAA).

Labels: Legal, News, Oddities

Apparently not even those on the inside are immune to the desire to download. Engadget reports that the CEO of Warner Music admits that his own kids pirate music. They also go on to mock him for what he says. How can you criminalize so many people for such an act, but act as though it doesn't happen when it is your own family.

Labels: Engadget, Legal, Music, Oddities, People

It seems that with the plethora of PS3's that are hitting ebay, there are a few getting through with some humorous results. Two separate stories are coming from Consumerist.

One lucky bastard was able to pick one up for only $9.99. Another was a little less fortunate and found themselves with Sony Playstations, 3 of them. I think that people need to step away from their consoles and reevaluate their life, as many people seem to be a little too obsessed.

Labels: Games, Oddities, Sony

News in New Zealand is that icebergs are floating towards the coasts. The icebergs are coming from Antarctica, and are bring pushed around by the wind and water currents. Imagine the the surprise of a ship operator seeing an iceberg coming up over the horizon.

Labels: News, Oddities

As I would have guessed, gamers are dysfunctional and deserve to be removed from public contact. Apparently the guy was a little mad that he didn't get his precious game so he beat up a fifteen year old in order to end up being arrest and not get the game.

Apparently, the argument developed after store clerks informed the crowd that stocks were running out, at which point the 36-year-old customer attempted to cut in line and when challenged swore at and repeatedly punched the 15-year-old who was to receive the last copy of the game.

Naturally the police were called and the man was arrested for aggravated assault and is currently awaiting arraignment at a local correctional facility.

That guy deserves to be locked up for years. There is no logical reason that he could possibly come up with to justify his actions.

Labels: Kids, News, Oddities, People

There is an article on the ridiculousness of people in america; a coach was fired because he did not play the commissioner's son. The firing of the coach resulted in the rest of the team losing out.

This is the example of why parents are so much disliked by people. The players are perfectly fine, but the parents are always the ones that are out of control. They are the ones running out on the field causing trouble. They are the ones who are yelling at the referees.

I am appalled that that guy had the nerve to fire a coach because he did not play his son 100% of the time. They won the game and were heading to the playoffs, but he thought that the coach had no grounds to do so. The commissioner fired the coach as the team was heading to the playoffs. I think that the commissioner's son would rather go to the playoffs than to not at all because his father thought the coach was in the wrong.

Labels: America, News, Oddities, People, Rants

Over at BoingBoing, there is post about Houston police tasering people at a music venue. Obviously the cop was way out of line. If you go over to BoingBoing, there are links to a few videos at YouTube that show the action. The worst is this:

"...at which time the cop tried to grab one of the musicians' guitar, and then slammed the musician to the ground... of course from that point on melee ensued, with at least three people being tasered by this cop, and several people being arrested. One of the kids tasered was a 14 year old kid who was there with his parents! One account states that the boy's father was also tasered."

What the hell was the cop thinking. There is no reason that a fourteen year old should be tasered, and then taser the parents, too. I have to say that I am surprised that someone didn't strike the cop over the head with something. Of course, with video and the internet, Houston would be foolish not to fire the cop.

Labels: Legal, News, Oddities, People

It's amazing how stupid people are. I've linked to the most complete posting of the story as I could. Apparently some guy hotlinked images from someone elses site, not saving them to his own server, then the owner of the images changed the location of the images and destroyed the hotlinker's site. The hotlinker thinks that he can sue the guy because the removal of the images hurt his business. I guess the hotlinker never heard of copyright laws, and he doesn't understand that the owner has every right to change the images on his own site. I guess you would have to put it into perspective for the guy by not removing, but switching images, where the site owner could have done even more damage.

Read the story.

Labels: Internet, Oddities