Zuckervati MissingLinks

Hunting the Ghost Hunters

2009-07-01T18:06:50Z

Here's an interesting article debunking ghost hunters, Ed and Lorraine Warren.

We sought to evaluate the phenomenon of ghosts (in the generic sense, referring to all manner of spiritual manifestations) and see if there was any evidence to support the hypothesis that the phenomenon exists. On the matter of hauntings, the Warrens were one of the preeminent experts, and they were local, so naturally we decided to look into their work. Also, they claim to have scientific evidence which does indeed prove the existence of ghosts, which sounds like a testable claim that we can sink our investigative teeth into.

What we found was a very nice couple, some genuinely sincere people, but absolutely no compelling evidence, or, more precisely, there was a ton of "evidence," but none of it stands up to rigorous scientific testing, and most of it not even to cursory testing. None of it.

Skepticblog » Hunting the Ghost Hunters

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Daily Kos: Al Franken wins

2009-07-01T14:17:25Z

Congratulations Al. (finally)

For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.

Daily Kos: Al Franken wins

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Steorn's Orbo doesn't work

2009-06-30T18:59:12Z

But that should come as no big surprise to most people, especially those of us who abide by the laws of thermodynamics.

The remainder of the 22 person jury chosen by Steorn have unanimously determined there's no such thing as free energy:

In August 2006 the Irish company Steorn published an advertisement in the Economist announcing the development of "a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy". Qualified experts were sought to form a "jury" to validate these claims.
Twenty-two independent scientists and engineers were selected by Steorn to form this jury. It has for the past two years examined evidence presented by the company. The unanimous verdict of the Jury is that Steorn's attempts to demonstrate the claim have not shown the production of energy. The jury is therefore ceasing work.

The jury consists of scientists and engineers in relevant fields from Europe and North America, from industry, universities and government laboratories. Information about individual members can be found at http://stjury.ning.com/

R.I.MacDonald
Chairman, Steorn Jury

A blogger who follows this topic made some interesting points about whether they've been scamming or delusional:

Some have suggested that the jury never existed, that Steorn had made it all up as part of a scam. This idea has been refuted, and with such clumsiness on Steorn's part that it becomes clear that they had little idea of what they were doing when they commissioned this jury. If after three years they could not present convincing evidence for this effect, then in the best case they were irresponsibly premature in announcing their discovery to the world &mdash and in the worst case, there never was a discovery at all, it was just a series of mistaken measurements.

The jury is in: No free energy from Steorn (Steorn's Orbo)

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Watch TRANSFORMERS 2 - Right Now!

2009-06-30T13:43:46Z

Yup, right here.

You know, I think it's still too long.

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Unfortunate Domain Names

2009-06-25T18:25:32Z

From 11points.com. Unfortunately, their permalinks aren't working, so you may never see the article. Fortunately, I put the best ones below:

sydneytherapist.com Officially: SydneyTherapist.com, the website of Tanya Koens, a sex therapist in Sydney, Australia. (No word if she is affiliated with Tobias Funke.) Unintentionally: SydneyTheRapist.com, home page of a guy named Sydney who just can't stop telling his stories about rapin'! (No word if he is affiliated with Tucker Max.)
americanscrapmetal.com
Officially: AmericanScrapMetal.com, "a B2B-based scrap metal recycling expert" in Texas.
Unintentionally: AmericansCrapMetal.com. And we piss awesomeness!

Unintentionally Hilarious Domain Names

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Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo - First Official Trailer

2009-06-25T16:57:04Z

The guys over at Topless Robot were commenting on how Disney seems to be sabotaging Miyazaki's new film, Ponyo, by releasing the DVD months before its North American theatre opening. It may be true, it's probably true. But the TR guys suggest this is because Ponyo looks too weird for U.S. audiences, and Disney knows it.

I'd tell you not to bother seeing it in the theater, except that Disney is already doing a fine job of that, since they'll be releasing the DVD of Ponyo a month before the film premieres in the U.S. Making the theatrical release utterly irrelevant. Which is fine in the sense that Ponyo is clearly fucking insane in the way that is whimsical and somehow reasonable to mass Japanese audiences, but kind of terrifying to mass U.S. audiences.

Maybe. Does this look kind of weird/scary/trippy for U.S. audiences?

That's nothing. Check this out. Now this is seriously fucked-up weird:

Go rent it. It's called Paprika, by Satoshi Kon, the guy who did "Tokyo Godfathers", and "Perfect Blue". This is a film that'll mess you right up.

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Hot Cosplayers

2009-06-25T15:06:44Z

Slow day today at Zuckervati world-domination HQ. Here's some early Halloween ideas.

(yeah, I don't know what she's doing in the back of a minivan)

hot cosplay girls | TheChive

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Vision Quest: Homebrewers Living the Dream - Imbibe Magazine

2009-06-24T21:13:36Z

Neat article on homebrewing from Imbibe magazine. I've got the print version of it, and I'm sorely tempted to turn the studio into a Drew Carrey-esque microbrewery.

Working out of the basement in his two-story home in Bolingbrook, Illinois, Formanek is one of America's most-decorated amateur beer makers. He's a seven-time Midwest Home Brewer of the Year, and he's won 23 American Homebrewers Association medals--his crisp, effervescent pilsner, strong Scotch ale and potent Russian imperial stout all won silver in 2008's AHA competition. "You can't win them all," says Formanek, whose secret is pushing styles to their extreme, without creating extreme beers. "When I brew an American ale, it will be hoppier. If I brew a Scottish ale, it will be maltier. I accentuate characteristics, while still creating a drinkable beer."

Vision Quest: Homebrewers Living the Dream - Imbibe Magazine

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Samurai cuts goddamn baseball in half

2009-06-24T20:36:38Z

I'm not sure what else to add, except it's a samurai who cuts a goddamn baseball in half.

YouTube - baseball attacked by samurai swordsman

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Funny, Sexy T-Shirts

2009-06-24T15:51:17Z

If you need something fun to look at today, this is it.

Sexy T-shirts | TheChive

More Sexy T-shirts | TheChive

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FTC to crack down on "sponsored" blogging

2009-06-24T15:29:48Z

Soon, I won't be able to tell you about that rich, Colombian coffee I've been drinking. Oh yeah ... buy Moxie.

In case you're not familiar with the practice of "sponsored blogging," imagine that Your Favorite Blog written by Joe Schmoe of Little Rock, Arkansas often gives rave reviews of certain home appliances that he allegedly uses. Joe might have purchased those things himself, and he might really love them--but he might be getting paid by GE to push the company's new washer and dryer. Or, if he's not receiving money, Joe might be the recipient of paid trips to Hawaii or prepaid gift cards. All of these things can and do happen in the blogosphere, and there are no rules on disclosure.

FTC to crack down on undisclosed "sponsored" blogging - Ars Technica

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210 Bad Tattoos

2009-06-24T15:25:34Z

Granted they're not all bad. Some of them are quite funny.

210 'WTF Were They Thinking' Tattoos : COED Magazine

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I Cut Down 47 lbs of Stomach Fat In A Month By Obeying This 1 Old Rule

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

2009-06-19T19:21:43Z

Good list. It also gives a number of good reasons why a particular film didn't end up on the list, as well as a number of films which deserved honourable mentions.

There's a few I haven't seen, either. This gives me something to do this weekend.

We thought it would be interesting if we could coagulate the most commonly cited dystopian movies and rank them not to preference, but to an average score made up of both Rotten Tomatoes (RT) and IMDB ratings.
As you all will probably know, the Internet Movie Database allows movie fans and registered users to rate each movie from 1 to 10 and the final score is said to reflect the general audience's view of the movie. In contrast, Rotten Tomatoes rates their movies by collecting and tabulating the reviews given by professional film critics.

We've taken both ratings, added them together and found an average score for each film. Each of the films are then ranked according to this average score. We've also included links to the IMDB and RT profile for each movie so you can learn more about the movie.

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

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Songs No Dude Should Have On His iPod

2009-06-18T17:54:03Z

Fair enough. I've got a couple of songs from this list. Only a couple.

Anything where Garth Brooks sings about mentally challenged people

Anything by Aerosmtih post 1990, especially "Don't Want to Miss a Thing"

Anything from the Beaches soundtrack

Anything by Kelly Clarkson

Any song by Will Smith that shares its title with a Will Smith movie

Anything by Lady Gaga

Anything by 98 Degrees

Anything by Macy Gray

Any non-solo Timberlake

"Big Girls Don't Cry" or "Clumsy" by Fergie

Anything by Sugar Ray post-1997

The Definitive List Of Songs No Dude Should Have On Their iPod | NextRound.net

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50 Films You Can Wait to See After You're Dead

2009-06-17T18:52:35Z

Oh, thank FSM, I've only seen three of these "films". Here's a small list of the films that you don't have to see:

Cool as Ice

Dice Rules

Basic Instinct 2

Gigli

SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2

From Justin to Kelly

The Hottie & the Nottie

50 Films You Can Wait to See After You're Dead

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