Weird News of the World Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Abandoned NYC Prison is Being Turned Into a Huge Film Lot

Just a few years ago, the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility housed a thousand or so inmates. But in a few months, this Staten Island prison will be home to one of the largest movie studio in the country outside of the West Coast.
Broadway Stages is NYC's largest film and TV production company; it's filmed everything from The Good Wife to Rescue Me and music videos for Kanye West and Jay-Z. Right now, the company is based in Greenpoint—but as it rapidly expands, it needed a larger space. The company's president recently spoke to the New York Post about the decision to buy a decommissioned prison on Staten Island for $7 million.
The prison once housed more than 900 inmates, along with a 650-bed drug rehabilitation center. It was closed in 2011 as part of Governor Cuomo's prison closure program. But soon, the empty prison will be used to stage everything from films to music videos. The big draw, says President Gina Argento, is that they'll be able to built sets outside, which is pretty much impossible in densely-crowded Brooklyn or Manhattan. "We can do different kinds of shows, more shows with stunts and more shows with outdoor exterior shots," she told the Post.

Broadway Stages has already done some pretty cool stuff with its current space—including building a huge rooftop solar farm and garden—so we can expect the Staten Island facility to be equally cool when more details emerge.

I bet this is going to be dope as all get out

 

[KevanG]

Hey as long as it gets used and doesn't turn into another drug den, I'm cool with that.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Obama Says US Army is Building a Real Iron Man and No, He Isn't Joking

Last Tuesday President Obama met with top engineers and Pentagon people. He publicly said: "Basically, I'm here to announce that we're building Iron Man [...] Not really. Maybe. It's classified." People laughed, but the truth is that yes, the US military is building Iron Man, and the first prototypes are coming in this June.
First, listen to his speech, because it is funny. His delivery and timing is impeccable:


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It's not a joke

The fact is that it's real. The Pentagon is totally building Iron Man, and the US Army has confirmed this a few times already. In fact, along with robots, it's one of its biggest bets, just like the US Air Force and the US Navy are betting on drones. I wrote about this last year:

While the Army's Iron Man suit—officially called Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS)—will not have flying capability, little missiles, or repulsors, the feature list is still extremely impressive.
RDECOM wants TALOS to have ballistic and shock protection—using an armor that will get from flexible soft surface to hard metal solid, capable of repelling ammo when applying an electric current. Oh, and fire-******ant capability. The Army also wants the suit to "store and release energy to prevent injuries and increase performance."
And as if that wasn't impressive enough, the suit will have integrated communications, body and external sensors, and a head-up display that will give battle information graphics in real time along with night vision. It will be more Google Glass than Jarvis in this generation, but you get the idea.
Another feature for the suit is an optional attachable exoskeleton that will provide with hydraulic mechanisms to improve both strength and speed. Like the others, this technology exists already.
​

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Coming up this June

Last week DefenseTech reported that Admiral William McRaven—chief of the US Special Operations Command—has confirmed that three prototypes are already being assembled and are expected to be delivered in June for testing. It's the first step for an August 2018 deployment. McRaven says that "the suit, if done correctly, will yield a revolutionary improvement in survivability and capability for special operators [...] a huge comparative advantage over our enemies and give our warriors the protection they need. [...] We are already seeing astounding results of this collaboration."
They are working with 56 corporations, 16 government agencies, 13 universities and 10 national laboratories to make Iron Man a reality. McRaven also said they are going to celebrate a Monster Garage event, where they will invite mechanics and inventors to create components for the suit. He's even thinking about creating a DARPA-style prize to bring more stuff into the program.
I'm sure that, while Iron Man 1.0 will not have flying capabilities, most probably version 3.0 will.

Sweet, this is going to be so cool

 

[KevanG]

They're working on the flying. When we get a usable jet pack for humans that'll be next for it.

 

[KevanG]

This is a very serious crime in Canada and even the police have a hard time with it.

http://www.wimp.com/crimescanada/

 

[Teelie]

Donut Shop Opens Inside Gym, Refuses to Sell Donuts

Spoiler

Why would they bother opening that location up? It is mind boggling

Probably something they should have asked before they moved in and set up shop.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

"Dead" Man Wakes Up in Body Bag as Funeral Home Is About to Embalm Him

Early Thursday morning, workers at a funeral home were shocked when they found a man alive—and literally kicking—inside one of their body bags. The man was set to be embalmed later that morning.

After finding Walter Williams alive, the workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home in Lexington, Mississippi quickly called the Holmes County Sheriff.

"I asked the coroner what happened, and the only thing he could say is that it's a miracle," Sheriff Willie March told WAPT.

But how'd this happen? At about 9 pm on Wednesday night, the county coroner declared Williams dead after he failed to find a pulse. Later that night, he was taken to the funeral home.

"I stood there and watched them put him in a body bag and zipped it up," Williams' nephew, Eddie Hester, told WAPT.

But about four hours later, Hester got a call. "That was at 10:30, and at 2:30, my cousin called me and said, 'Not yet,' and I said, 'What you mean not yet?' He said, 'Daddy still here,'" Hester said.

Workers at the funeral home found Williams after they heard him kicking from inside the zipped body bag. Williams was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he's in stable condition. For now, the coroner is blaming his mistake on Williams's pacemaker, which the coroner claims briefly stopped working—leading to the false death declaration—before later starting up again.

Williams is happy to be alive, according to his nephew.

"I don't know how long he's going to be here, but I know he's back right now. That's all that matters," Hester said.

http://www.wapt.com/news/central-mississippi/man-wakes-up-in-body-bag-at-funeral-home/24722536

That has got to be one of the worst ways to wake up ever

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

1,094 Arrested in Major Baby Trafficking Bust

At the end of this month, four major baby trafficking rings were busted by authorities in Beijing and Jiangsu, rescuing 382 babies and arresting 1,094 people involved.
With the cultural preference for boy children and strict laws that permit families to only having one child, baby trafficking in China has risen steadily. The punishment for baby trafficking can be as severe as the death penalty, and these web-based operations had been under the watch of authorities for six months when their fronts were raided and members were taken into custody.

Babies are big money over there I guess

 

[Duke]

Obama Says US Army is Building a Real Iron Man and No, He Isn't Joking

Sweet, this is going to be so cool

Expect Marvel's lawsuit in the mail.

 

[Doctor Evo]

Dancing baby stingrays

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Kinda look like little aliens

Those aren't stingrays.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Are they Manta rays?

 

[Doctor Evo]

Are they Manta rays?

They're not rays at all. They're skates.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ahh got ya, Although I passed marine biology in high school with an A that class was mostly just coloring so I don't remember much of it. I will immediately chastise the site that reported them as such

 

[Teelie]

I can see why they would be mistaken for sting rays, especially baby ones. Skates and rays do look a lot alike.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Meme Files Lawsuit

Being a meme more or less sucks, especially if you aren't making any money off of your fleeting internet celebrity. That all goes double if your meme stems from a mugshot, like in the case of Meagan Simmons, who this week filed suit against a mugshot website for using her famous booking photo in ads.

Simmons has been well-known in certain pockets of the internet since the middle of 2012, when her mugshot from a 2010 DUI arrest became the basis for what KnowYourMeme.com calls the "attractive convict" meme ("WANTED IN 50 STATES" etc.). Now, Simmons is claiming that a web site called InstantCheckmate.com has been displaying her mugshot in banner ads without her permission.

Though Florida's lax laws regarding the ownership of mugshots have left thousands of people unable to scrub their lowest moment from the internet, Simmons really only takes issue with InstantCheckmate ostensibly making money off her mug. In an April interview with Huffington Post, Simmons was rather blasé about the whole thing, though she has recently expressed concern with crazy internet men tracking her down in the small Florida town of Zephyrhills.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be memes.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts...attractive-convict-mugshot-files-suit/2167688

These mugshot places are such freaking scams. You have to pay them to get rid of your mugshot even if you aren't convicted of anything. Such BS

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Giant Snake Wins 5-Hour Battle With Crocodile

A 10-foot snake ate a crocodile whole after a titanic struggle that will probably inspire a SyFy original movie.

The Queensland, Australia-based water python was caught on camera choking the life out of its prey for 5 hours and then undertaking the 15-minute ordeal of swallowing it.

"It was amazing," witness Tiffany Corlis told the BBC. "It would roll the crocodile around to get a better grip, and coil its body around the crocodile's legs to hold it tight."

"After the crocodile had died, the snake uncoiled itself, came around to the front, and started to eat the crocodile, face-first," she added.

The very full snake will continue to bloat for a few days as it digests the croc, a process that takes about 3 weeks.

But why go after such dangerous prey, rather than feasting on rats, ducks, and wallabies? Even though crocodiles are riskier to eat, devouring one means a snake this size won't have to eat again for 2 months.

In case it makes you feel better, a water python won't try to eat a human. Our shoulders are generally too broad.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2014/03/03/3955563.htm

That, my friends, is an epic battle for the ages. I've seen some pics of big snakes taking on gators and such out here in FL

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Nepal Will Force Each Everest Climber To Collect 18 Pounds of Trash

Mount Everest might be the be-all, end-all of mountaineering, but it's also a dumping ground for the climbers striving upon its face—which is littered, as National Geographic puts it, "with garbage leaking out of the glaciers and pyramids of human excrement befouling the high camps." This week, Nepal announced a new rule aimed at cleaning it up.

Right now, climbers on Mt. Everest are, theoretically, required to bring back their own trash. But a combination of factors, including the challenge of enforcement and the sheer necessity of offloading weight in emergency situations, makes the rule little more than a suggestion. A host of new requirements introduced by the Nepalese tourism ministry this week are aiming to fix this decades-old problem.

Think of it as a garbage tax. According to the new rules, each climber will be required to bring back 17.6 pounds of refuse—in addition to their own trash. When each person who goes up the mountain comes back down, they'll have to present their trash at a new government office that's being set up at Base Camp, where their haul will be weighed and certified. What happens if they're underweight? That's not entirely clear yet—Nepal's tourism ministry official says it will "take legal action against them."

Everest's trash problem has been growing for half a century. The fact that littering is so interwoven with survival is part of the problem—if it's a choice between spending your last bit of energy to haul your empty oxygen tanks down the mountain and actually getting down safely, it's hard to argue with climbers who chose the latter.

One cleanup group collected 13 tons of garbage over the past four years, but there's more than ten more tons still up there, the contents of which include everything from cans to broken gear to poop—not to mention hundreds of corpses of climbers who died on their treks.

If Nepal's new rule does work, it'll be interesting to see how it affects the culture surrounding the world's top mountaineers. Right now, the emphasis is on climbing the fastest or without the added cushion of bottled oxygen. But, in the future, the challenge might be about how little you're carrying.

That, in turn, will affect the companies that make gear for climbers. Maybe a few years down the road, climbers will use chemicals that can turn human waste into usable insulation, or tents that can double as extra layers of clothing. Which, it turns out, is something you can already buy down here at sea level.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/03/mount-everest-litter-nepal-climbers

Had no idea this was such a problem

 

[Teelie]

I did. There are a lot of stories of how ****** (literally sometimes) climbing Everest can be. And there are bodies used as landmarks on the climb too.

The cave is know as Green Boots because the body of “Green Boots” (an Indian climber who died in 1996) lies near the entrance to the cave that all climbers pass on their way to the peak. Green Boots now serves as a location marker that climbers use to estimate how close they are to the summit. Green Boots became separated from his climbing party in 96 and sought a mountain overhang to use as protection from the harsh elements. He literally just sat there shivering in the cold until he froze to death. The high wind has since blown his body over into a laying position hiding his face in the snow. Many climbers will surround the dead with rocks and packed snow to attempt to protect them from the elements.

 

[KevanG]

So if you die and your party doesn't take you back down with them then they'll be fined?

 

[Teelie]

I think if you return with a dead body you should get a pass.

 

[KevanG]

But then everybody would start throwing down dead folks and leaving piles of poop everywhere.

 

[Teelie]

There's only a few 100 bodies, eventually they'll run out and have to start cleaning up after other people like they were dogs at the park.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Lost Password Leaves Police Dept Complaints Unchecked…For 8 Years

Until recently, the Delhi police department in India had been enjoying a baffling long streak totally free of complaints. Of course, it's a lot easier to keep a clean slate when you never check the complaint database in the first place. Because someone lost the password. Eight years ago.

You can imagine the officers who finally opened the portal were more than a little overwhelmed at the 600 complaints waiting for them on the other end. The complaints themselves had all come from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)—India's anti-corruption agency. When a complaint is filed against a government official—which includes police officers—the CVC will either handle the matter themselves or forward it to the appropriate precinct.

In 2006, the CVC created a portal, allowing them to put the complaints online and so that each department could log in and access as needed. When the CVC realized that they had not had any feedback from the Delhi police department since 2006, they called a couple of officers in only to find out that the 667 complaints were going untouched because the Delhi department couldn't remember the password.

Finally, after an hour-long training session (presumably to learn how to remember passwords), the cops went back to tackle their very, very long list of grievances with password-in-hand and—we can only hope—a security question. Let's hope they have an easier time remembering the name of their first pet.

http://indianexpress.com/article/ci...pile-up-as-delhi-police-doesnt-know-password/

I find it hilarious that with all the IT departments that are based in India for customer service nobody knew anybody that could help them recover the password

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Laughably Small Amount of Sugar Will Make You Officially Unhealthy

One of America's favorite foods (after partially hydrogenated soybean oil) is sugar, which is a poison to the human body. You will all be pained to hear that the World Health Organization has just halved the acceptable amount of sugar in your diet.

New WHO guidelines released yesterday recommend that sugar make up only 5% of your daily calories— down from 10% in its previous guidelines, published a decade ago. It seems that there has been no scientific findings about the magical health properties of sugar in the past decade. Pity. So uh, how much sugar are you actually allowed now? From The Guardian:

For an adult of average bodyweight, with an intake of about 2,000 calories a day, 5% would equate to 100 calories – which at four calories in a gram would be 25g of sugar, said Dr Francesco Branca, the WHO's director of nutrition for health and development. A standard 330ml can of cola contains 35g of sugar.

The best case scenario response to these guidelines are a collective bemused grin by America. To be clear, the very latest science-based health guidelines suggest you should have less than the amount of sugar in one can of soda per day. This, in a nation that has entire lobbying campaigns dedicated to convincing the public that corn syrup is a natural part of any diet. Friends, I challenge you to go to your average grocery store and find a single jar of ****ing pickle relish that does not contain added sugar. You can't do it. The average American diet is packed full of sugar in the same way a goose is force-fed grain to produce foie gras. It doesn't matter if you want to eat sugar; you will eat sugar, unless you want to "cook" your own food, which is an unfashionable ancient ritual based on oral traditions that were lost long ago.

These new guidelines are absolutely correct from a health standpoint, and my conviction that we should all follow them is equal to my conviction that almost none of us will. See you in hell, fellow Americans.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/05/adults-sugar-calories-coke-can-who

Funny how this hasn't been making headline news but then again I don't know anyone that thinks sweets are good for you

 

[Teelie]

Everything is bad for you. I'm so sick of this is bad and that is bad and you should eat this, only it's also bad for you that I no longer care. I will and have cut back on things like sugar and fat and salt but it's impossible to eliminate them from your diet.

A lot of these studies are also contradicted by other studies. Add to it that sugar is now classified as a poison and I can't help but roll my eyes so hard they fall out of my head and continue to roll on their own.

True or not, enough calling sugar a damned poison!

It sounds ridiculous and it makes people wary to accept it as true. We've only been ingesting the stuff since the dawn of ****ing time.