Weird News of the World Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The Plan to Turn Jellyfish Into Diapers and Paper Towels

Of the many problems on Earth, here are two: there are too many jellyfish in the seas, and there are too many diapers in our landfills. An Israeli nanotech start-up called Cine'al says it has found the answer to both in Hydromash, a super-absorbent material made from the bodies of jellyfish. But why stop at diapers? Cine'al says jellyfish tampons, paper towels, and medical sponges could all be part of our absorbent future.

The recent jellyfish invasion of our seas has been a perplexing but destructive mystery. Their soft, slippery masses drift into desalination plants and the cooling systems of nuclear power plants, shutting down multimillion dollar facilities. En masse, they've also terrorized fish farms, beaches, and boats. There isn't much we as humans can do with jellyfish, other than eat them. They're a delicacy in Asian countries, but jellyfish are out-reproducing our appetites.

Researchers at Tele Aviv University, however, thought jellyfish could perhaps be the source for highly absorbent and biodegradable material. Their bodies are 90 percent water, yet they don't disintegrate or dissolve in the sea. That's the original idea behind Hydromash, which Cine'al claims is many times more absorbent than paper towels, and which is derived from jellyfish bodies plus nanoparticles for antibacterial properties.

The resulting material breaks down in 30 days, while current diapers which stick around for decades. It's also not much more expensive than the synthetic super-absorbing polymers in current use, which means there could be a super-absorbent silver lining to the jellyfish invasion, after all.

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/company-plans-make-diapers-out-jellyfish

Awesome solution to a real problem

 

[Teelie]

Sounds like it might be a real pain in the ass to wipe with a jellyfish.

 

[KevanG]

I've had jellyfish sting me before and I don't want them anywhere near my butt.

 

[KevanG]

When I was a kid at the beach we'd go a few weeks with almost no jellyfish and then we'd get a swarm for a few days that left them in piles on the beach. When we saw one in the water we'd move our ass out of it's way, when we saw a dozen piled on the beach, we just went home cause no one was going in the water that day.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Well of course they are going to take the sting stuff out of them. The majority of jelly fish don't sting and are clogging up the ocean because of warmer weather. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement between an invasive species and baby butts

 

[KevanG]

We prefer to imagine that they just package jellyfish whole for diapers and such.

 

[Marvolo]

The Government Will Take Your Money For Your Dead Parent's Debts



http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...f4d-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html?hpid=z1

Why does this not surprise me?

That's crooked as Hell. You shouldn't be responsible for a debt unless your signature or consent and agreement is on the bill. What happens to someone if their parents are criminals who take the government for thousands in unfilled taxes then die. Do the children suddenly become responsible for that ****? This is basically what King John does in Robin Hood when Russel Crowe first gets back to England and receives the King's ring then immediately has it taken back by the King for some old debts his father owed who isnt even actually his father.

 

[KevanG]

If it was you they raised, then it's you that must pay!

 

[Marvolo]

If it was you they raised, then it's you that must pay!

I can't tell if you're being serious or not.

I don't think someone should be punished for being born to morons. I know you inherit your parents debt in some cases, but you should at least be able to arrange payments. For people that live paycheck to paycheck this could literally mean them going without food or electricity or water. But I guess that's ok as long as our government can fund it's bloated military budget. Gotta have those F-22s that we never use.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Daytime Nappers Die Young

A 13-year study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology has revealed that if you take naps during the day, your life is going to be short. Add it to the list.

The report, which was performed by researchers at Cambridge University, studied the habits of over 16,000 men and women in Britain and found that those who take naps during the day are almost a third more likely to die before they turn 65.

According to the report,

Among the 16,374 men and women who answered questions on napping habits between 1998 and 2000, a total of 3,251 died during the 13-year follow-up.
The biggest risks come from respiratory problems that napping is likely to induce (or as Stanford University calls them, SRBDs), and nappers who slept during the day for more than an hour had more than double the chance of dying from a respiratory illness than those who didn't nap at all.

But confusion remains: many pose that dormant or undiscovered illnesses actually inspire people to take daytime naps, not the other way around. The study itself admits to this:

In the United Kingdom, daytime napping is not part of the cultural norm, and in the absence of obvious disruptions in nighttime sleep patterns, it remains plausible that napping might be an early sign of system disregulation and a marker of future health problems.
The moral: take a nap if you're tired. But then wake up and go to the doctor.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/03/30/aje.kwu036.full

Well that sucks, I love naps

 

[Superwoman Prime]

^ Noooo!

*refuses to believe evidence*

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

German Store Accidentally Sells Romantic Hitler Tea Cups

Dainty tea cups enrobed in poetry and roses showed up at Zurbrüggen stores in Germany bearing the face of Adolf Hitler with swastika to match. The image of the former Nazi dictator is banned in the country, but no one seems to know how this happened.

Zurbrüggen is a family-owned housewares and furniture chain, where 5,000 of the uncomfortable tea vessels were being sold, unbeknownst to the store's owner, Christian Zurbrüggen.

"Our workers are dismayed and embarrassed, the producer has apologized for the error, and we have apologized to our customers for this terrible mistake that resulted from a chain of unfortunate circumstances."
The original price for one tea cup was 1.99 € (around $2.75), and of the 175 sold, only 16 have been returned. The remaining stock has been destroyed, and Zurbrüggen is in communication with their manufacturers in China to figure out where this error originated from.

Many thanks and big ups to tea enjoyer Agnes T. for bringing the news of the mysterious whimsical cups to German newspaper Neue Westfälische.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/11/storm...-accidentally-appears-on-floral-mugs-4695828/

You would think they would have caught that

 

[KevanG]

Can you imagine if that was given as a gift?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Missouri To Deploy Ear-Splitting LRAD Sound Cannons To Deter Speeders

[YT]NUmd6RQLQds[/YT]

Good news! For people that like speeding in work zones! The Missouri Department of Transportation just acquired two Long Range Acoustic Devices, or LRADs, to blast incredibly loud noises at drivers as they speed past construction sites. This is definitely, definitely going to go over well.P

The Missouri DoT plans to blast a high-pitched siren, very loudly, along with warnings to "slow down" to drivers.

The LRAD first came to prominence over the last decade, as it was found to be a non-lethal cureall for riotous crowd control, and also pirate defense. Point an LRAD at someone who finds whatever your doing disagreeable, fire the sucker up, and suddenly they are blasted with up to 153 decibels of noise.P

And how loud is 153 decibels? Well, lets put it this way: a standard-issue firework, if there is such a thing, exploding three feet away from you is slightly quieter. A Boeing 747 taking off right next to your head is much quieter.1P

Permanent hearing loss begins at 130 decibels.2P

But don't worry, because the Missouri DoT says that the LRAD will only be used at "safe levels," and it's a "valuable safety tool," according to Before It's News.P

This is either a really good idea, because it will help drivers slow down when lives are at risk, or a really, really terrible idea, because blasting an ear-splitting screech suddenly at the driver of a speeding car is a great way for them to think, carefully and with caution, that maybe this is a good time to slow down, maintain car control, and not suddenly veer first to the left, and then wildly over to the right, in a desperate attempt to preserve what little hearing they have left, hoping against hope that they will one day hear the beautiful strings of Beethoven's 3rd symphony again, while they plow directly into the construction zone.P

And it will always, surely be used with restraint.P

Yes, definitely a good idea.

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternativ...cannons-against-speeding-drivers-2935332.html

Who in their right mind thinks this is a good idea?

 

[Teelie]

Nothing like yelling "Boo!" to someone who is completely unaware of someone sneaking up behind them.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I would enjoy using it to blast mixes but I've always wanted a copy of the "Brown Note" to blast at parties haha

 

[Teelie]

Florida* woman dragged out of her own garage by group of garbage eating bears so they can scrounge in peace

Only one of them actually did it but the rest nodded their heads in agreement that she needed to go. Fortunately she wasn't severely injured or it might be more tragic.

* Where else would a gang of bears harass someone naturally?

A Florida woman is recovering after being attacked by a bear who ambled into her open garage and sifted through her garbage cans in search of food, sheriff's deputies said Sunday.

The woman said as many as five bears "of various sizes" were rooting through her trash when she walked into the garage, Seminole County Sheriff's Lt. Pete Brenenstuhl said. A black bear "dragged her from inside the garage out into her driveway," leaving her with scrapes and cuts to her face and legs, Brenenstuhl said.

The woman escaped and ran back into her home, where her husband called 911, he said. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Greg Workman said initial reports that several bears had attacked the woman were wrong. "There were several bears observed near the area, but one bear is responsible for her injuries."

Lt. Jeff Hudson said the woman had an "encounter with a black bear" but could not confirm the reports of multiple bears being involved in the incident.

The Saturday night encounter came the same day Florida wildlife officials warned that black bears and their cubs have started moving around in search of food after winter. The agency urges residents to use bear-resistant trash cans to prevent incidents like the one on Saturday night.

"Now is the time to expect bears to show up looking for food," Dave Telesco, the head of the wildlife commission's bear management program, said in Saturday's advisory. "If they can't find food in your neighborhood, they'll move on."

CNN

 

[Quasimod0]

A bear lives in the woods by my house. He has gotten into our trash a couple of times. I saw him sitting in the middle of the road one time and drove up to him in my car. But he ran into the woods

 

[guitarsingerguy]

A bear lives in the woods by my house. He has gotten into our trash a couple of times. I saw him sitting in the middle of the road one time and drove up to him in my car. But he ran into the woods

Why Wouk you do such a thing? Haven't you seen The Great Outdoors? Lol

 

[darrellm58]

Parents apparently cower inside over Chiuaua's?? What a great example of bravery.

 

[KevanG]

My friends have a Chihuahua and it's no threat whatsoever. I imagine a dozen of them might pose a small issue if they tried to trip you or you weren't wearing pants or something.

 

[Hotwire]

My friends have a Chihuahua and it's no threat whatsoever. I imagine a dozen of them might pose a small issue if they tried to trip you or you weren't wearing pants or something.

Yeah, I'm not really scared of an animal I can punt.

 

[KevanG]

I've had it bite me and hang off my finger while biting me and I barely felt it. It has tiny dull teeth.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Bain Capital Has Seen the Economy's Future, and It Is Heroin Addicts

Bain Capital—the Romney-built private equity firm that extracts wealth from humanity with the alacrity of an anteater jamming its many-hooked oral proboscis into a lush ant colony—is always looking for profitable trends in the markets. And America's profitable trend today is: hard drugs.

The Boston Globe detailed this weekend how Bain recently snatched up a medical corporation to capitalize on New England's drug-addiction "public health emergency" by running more than a dozen methadone clinics for heroin addicts.

Smack has emerged as a huge cash business in the region of late, virtually paralyzing Boston and the state of Vermont, where entire families are hooked on the junk. Heads of state are pledging action, which means government assistance for addicts and families... and that means profit potential for players like Bain.

On the 2012 campaign trail, presidential also-ran and Bain brain-truster Mitt Romney touted the firm's turnaround of Staples; it's also staked its reputation on businesses like day care centers and Dunkin' Donuts. But Bain's $58 million purchase of the methadone centers by CRC Health Corp., its medical arm, suggests the firm is going long on America's jones for needles:

Heroin and prescription drug addiction is "a giant problem in Boston; it's a giant problem across the country,'' said General Barry R. McCaffrey, who served as drug czar in the Clinton administration and has been on the CRC Health board since before Bain was involved with the company. Methadone is often stigmatized, he acknowledged, but for some addicts — when it's used in combination with counseling and other treatments — the substitute drug makes a dramatic difference in their lives.
Yes, that's that Barry McCaffrey, the ex-director of U.S. national drug control policy, who's now making a mint marketing methadone to addicts for $135 a weekly pop. (In fairness to McCaffrey, he's always favored methadone expansion, even when it didn't directly benefit him. As Bill Clinton's drug czar in 1998, the ex-general even butted heads with Rudy Giuliani over the New York mayor's short-lived anti-methadone crusade.)

What's the downside? Well, it's "hard to find a good methadone clinic,'' and there's always the possibility that municipal treatment clinics could shut down for lack of funds, Boston-area drug counselor Dr. Kevin Hill tells the Globe. That could leave Bain's mills as the only game in town, able to set their own prices and health standards at will.

"The problem I find with some of the for-profit clinics is the absolute minimum required by law becomes the absolute maximum they're willing to do for their patients,'' Hill says.

For its part, Bain's subsidiary says: Bah! Bosh and nonsense. "Frankly, the way to make a lot of money in this particular business is to do it badly,'' a clinical officer for McCaffrey's outfit told the Globe. "We're just not going to do that.'' Yep, you sure can trust Bain to run a business well.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...ent-centers/SVDjqnSOcsZKzhoTm6imKJ/story.html

If there is one thing I know it's that you can always trust a giant corporation making money off of the drugs to help get people off of drugs

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Man Tries to Jump Out in Mid-Air

A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Sacramento made an emergency landing Monday morning after a passenger tried to jump out through a rear emergency exit door.

Witnesses said they heard a flight attendant screaming "Help me, help me!" from the rear of the plane. Passengers reacted quickly, running to the back and tackling a man who was trying to open an emergency door.

One passenger said the man was acting strangely earlier in the flight, too, getting up to go to the bathroom and coming back "soaking wet."

The plane landed safely at Omaha's Eppley Airport, where the "unruly" passenger was escorted off, a Southwest spokesperson said. Flight 722 finally arrived in Sacramento about 2 hours late.

The FBI is investigating the incident.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/transit/chicago-southwest-airlines-sacramento-255137331.html

It would seem there would be easier ways to follow through with your death wish