A Rifle/Machete Slingshot

Posted by on March 30th, 2011

Although this is barely within our news coverage area, we thought bringing you footage of this amazing machete slingshot/rifle hybrid would prove that this beautiful dream is indeed science fact.

Favorite moments in video:

• The sound of an oncoming car while our host is explaining his contraption. If you’re just randomly driving down the road and see this giant bald dude wielding such an insane weapon, what is your first thought? I’m glad I updated my will? What is Uncle Fester doing with a knife gun? I always knew this is how I would go?

• The startling accuracy of the weapon. Granted, we don’t know how many takes this took to edit down to the handful of successful attempts but still…

• He’s shooting a box for a home treadmill. A nation of overweight YouTubers express a tsunami of catharsis.

• He follows up a video of the most badass DIY weapon in a decade with a video spotlighting two tiny hand slingshots. As the old adage on genre writing goes, your monster movie is over when the gigantic bald dude stops firing machetes into a treadmill box with pants peeing velocity.

Only two elements that could have made it better:

• Slow motion

• Death metal

[BoingBoing]


Podcast: 15,000 Year Death Wish Will Rule The Day

Posted by on March 29th, 2011

Skitched 20110225 175343

Andrew is very excited that his first science fiction book The Grendel’s Shadow is released. Brian favorably compares the human race to ants and wonders aloud if we will survive an unknowable cosmic disaster. After having his curiosity piqued by an email from a French listener, Andrew explains what life will be like in a post-Singularity economy where no one wants for anything. Justin calls one of his favorite authors “full of butts” during a conversation about overpopulation.

BONUS: Listen to the end of the podcast for an audio presentation of the prologue and first chapter from Andrew’s new ebook The Grendel’s Shadow. Then buy it for only .99 at Amazon.com by clicking the image below!

Image The Grendel s Shadow Andrew Mayne

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices, by clicking on the image:

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings032911.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings032911.mp3[/podcast]

Sponsored by:

Rick Foster’s Tumblr

Digital Genius from Willtech

IndieAisle.com

Picks:

Brian-

Snow Crash

The Diamond Age

Justin-

Welcome To The Monkeyhouse

Andrew-

Big Trouble In Little China


“Aliens Made Me Stalk Her”

Posted by on March 29th, 2011

Dude manages to squeeze in twitter stalking, the Mothman, telepathy, extra terrestrials, UFOs, alien mind control, the downside of the “alien defense angle” in the court system, and the apparent uselessness of psychotropic drugs on “alien mind control” into 3 minutes and 6 seconds.

[Cryptomundo]


Egyptian Cobra Loose in Bronx Zoo

Posted by on March 28th, 2011

A cobra has escaped from its enclosure and is on the loose at the Bronx Zoo.  Everything is FINE, just stay away from the Reptile House.

“While the roughly 20-inch-long Egyptian cobra – a highly venomous species of snake – has been unaccounted for since Friday afternoon, zoo officials say they’re confident it hasn’t gone far and isn’t in a public area. Its enclosure was in an isolation area not open to visitors.”

[Aol News]


Secret Origin Of Chupacabra REVEALED! [WeirdThingsTV]

Posted by on March 25th, 2011


Her? Apparently God Had A Wife That Was Cut From The Bible

Posted by on March 25th, 2011

Skitched 20110325 180257

According to a new documentary airing in Europe, the God of all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam… had a wife.

And her name Asherah.

And she has largely been scrubbed out of the Bible.

And she is probably pissed.

“You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him,” writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. “He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many … or so we like to believe.”

“After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife,” she added.

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, now modern-day Syria. All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.

The Asherah theory has been around since 1967 but the recent work of Exeter’s Francesca Stavrakopoulou is most credible evidence found to substantiate the claim.

[Discovery]


The Strange Case of Life Violating Copyright

Posted by on March 25th, 2011

As many of you may remember, last year J. Craig Venter and his team created the first synthetic life form by replacing the genetic code of the bacterium Mycoplasma capricolum with DNA that they created themselves. In order to create and identify thier own DNA, they composed it from two quotes. One quote was from Richard Feynman (and was actually misquoted), and the second quote was from James Joyce’s A Potrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Not long after this announcement Venter received a cease and desist letter from the Joyce estate claiming violation of fair use. So now there is a situation where life was created using information that falls under copyright and is faced with a cease and desist letter. Does this mean that the life must be destroyed? The bacterium has already reproduced and is a viable life form.

“Which brings to mind the question…are we now nearing a point where copyright law can result in the retraction of a life form?”

It will be interesting to see where this case ends up.

[Forbes via Tor]


Strange Object On The Beach

Posted by on March 25th, 2011

Strange things are washing up on the beach in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England. Any ideas as to what it could be?

[The Occultist]


Spider Infested Trees Reducing Malaria

Posted by on March 24th, 2011

that is a lot of spiders

Remember the floods that devastated Pakistan last year? Well all of that flood water drove spiders into trees by the millions where they took over and created giant spider condos, which is pretty much one of the last things I ever want to walk under. I am not sure how concentrating millions of spiders into one location helps lower the population of the highly mobile mosquitoes, but that is what is being reported. Maybe it is teamwork.

Although slowly killing the trees, the phenomenon is seemingly helping the local population. People in Sindh have reported fewer mosquitos than they would have expected given the amount of stagnant water in the area. It is thought the mosquitoes are getting caught in the spiders’ webs, reducing their numbers and the associated risk of malaria.

[NewScientist]


Did The Supermoon Straight Cold Bust An Otherwise Stealthy UFO?

Posted by on March 24th, 2011

Skitched 20110324 143107

As reported on UFO Casebook, a Louisiana star gazer looking to get some shots of the recent Supermoon might have snapped a pic or two of an unsuspecting space craft not used to being visible in regular moonlight.

The object apparently held perfectly still while the entirety of the photographers family took turns locating it with the camera.

[UFO Casebook]


Abominable Snowman Goes To College: Yeti Institute Coming To Russian University

Posted by on March 24th, 2011

Skitched 20110324 142352

Ever wondered if there was a degree ever more impractical than your double major of philosophy and sociology? We encourage you to submit your application to Kemerovo State University where you can become culturally enriched and educated at their recently announced Yeti Institute.

The facility comes after a recent run of Abominable Snowman sightings in the Siberian mountains. It will be headed up by Igor Burtsev who believes the current creatures being spotted are surviving Neanderthals.

He explains:

‘We spoke to local residents’, said Dr Igor Burtsev, who conducted an expedition last summer and will head the new institute at Kemerovo State University. ‘They told us Yetis were stealing their animals.’

The academic claims around 30 Yetis live in a remote region of Mount Shoria in in southern Siberia.

He strongly denies accusations that the ’sightings’ are a bizarre ruse to attract tourists to the far-flung region.

Reports say the two-legged creatures are heavy-set, more around 7ft tall and resemble bears.

‘Their bodies were covered in red and black fur, and they could climb trees,’ said one account.

We immediately have two questions. Is there anything more awesome than this? Will they accept transfer credits from community college?

[Daily Mail via Cryptomundo]


Worst Bigfoot Video Ever?

Posted by on March 24th, 2011

Wait, did Bigfoot just give the finger to the camera?
[Daily Mail]


Podcast: Quarks Vs. Space Bums

Posted by on March 24th, 2011

Skitched 20110225 175343

What’s more surprising, that we’ve radically reshaped our understanding of physics or that it happened by way of a violent message board flame war? Brian longs (via a series of increasingly complicated metaphors) for the day when we can find life under the frozen waves of a far away planet. Justin joins the Nation of Islam in their belief that a Wheel In The Sky keeps on turning. Andrew wrestles with an email which credits him for inventing a device that opens up a line of communication to the great beyond.

Try out the brand new PODCASTR player, featuring wireless syncing between desktop browsers and iOS devices, by clicking on the image:

WeirdThings Podcast

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings032411.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings032411.mp3[/podcast]

Sponsored by:

Zombie Takeout Podcast

Shepherd Intelligent Systems

@DeltaJulietMike

Picks:

Brian-

2010: The Year We Make Contact

Old Man’s War

Justin-

Hyperion

Back To The Future Trilogy

Andrew-

2012

Alphaville


Angels In The Goal Crease? Supernatural Save By NHL Goalie

Posted by on March 23rd, 2011

We aren’t out and out saying this is definitive video proof that a ghost came down from heaven and blocked this goal from going in so the LA Kings could secure a better seeding in the NHL playoffs, but consider the similarities between this and the 1994 family comedy Angels In The Outfield.

First, both took place in the greater Los Angeles area.

Okay, that’s pretty much it. Unless Christopher Lloyd is dead and turned into a ghost so he could replay his role as Al the mischievous head angel in reality. But Christopher Lloyd isn’t dead.

Is he?

[YouTube]


Rogue Squirrel Terrorizes Vermont Neighborhood

Posted by on March 23rd, 2011
In the town of Bennington, Vt., a squirrel has attacked three humans in the course of a week, biting and scratching the peaceful residents without provocation. The Bennington game warden is on the hunt for this angry squirrel, but it continues to elude the authorities. “It is just wildlife being wild”, says the game warden.

“[It] just latched on to my shoulder, and I went back and it’s a gray squirrel,” victim Kevin McDonald told the TV station.

McDonald was shoveling snow outside his home when the sneak attack began. “He was holding on. He wouldn’t let go. I was finally able to get him off, and as soon as I got him off, he just jumped right at me again.”

[AOL News]


New Evidence: El Chupacabra Story Started With Natasha Henstridge?

Posted by on March 22nd, 2011

Species 1995 jpeg

Did the Chupacabra mythos start as fan art for the 1995 Sci Fi thriller Species?

That is the assertion of Benjamin Radford who tracked the legend to it’s roots on the island protectorate of Puerto Rico. According to new research, all Chupacabra references can be traced back to a newspaper article in the second week of August in 1995. The alleged eye witness Madelyne Tolentino who provided the illustration depicted a lanky bobble headed creature with spikes jutting from the spine area.

Radford’s theory is that the creature might have been inspired by the 1995 erotic, science fiction thriller Species. In that film, a shape-shifting alien Natasha Henstridge attempts to mate with a human male. Her true form most notably bares resemblance to Tolentino’s drawing in the spikes and boney hands.

Which might be no coincidence, since according to Radford, Tolentino admits that she saw the film before penning her illustration and confesses that it might have inspired her final product. Species was released in theaters on July 7th, only a month and a half before the original newspaper report.

[Live Science]