Video Of The UFO That Closed A Chinese Airport

Posted by on July 19th, 2010

We reported this when it first happened, but this footage is pretty clear proof that someone weird was going on in the sky over the Xiaoshan Airport earlier this month.

Thanks to Weird Things reader Glenn for sending this in.


Help Save An Iconic Piece Of Star Wars

Posted by on July 16th, 2010
skitched-20100716-192932.jpg

Save the Lars Homestead! Head here for more information.


2 Lemurs Walk Into A Bar…

Posted by on July 16th, 2010

skitched-20100716-185412.jpg

Awesome.

VIENNA (AFP) – Two young ring-tailed lemurs which had escaped from Salzburg zoo five days ago have been recaptured by their keepers in a hotel bar in a nearby village, according to local media reports Friday.

The two-year-old males had escaped from Salzburg’s Hellbrunn zoo on Sunday afternoon, journeying around 25 kilometres (15 miles) over the next four days.

On Thursday morning, they crept through the open window of a hotel in the village of Wals, where staff lured them into the bar with fruits before calling the zoo to collect them.

Disney has already purchased the rights to the story. The big lemur will be voiced by Brad Garret and Bow Wow will play his travel companion. Sam Elliot is already locked as a gruff yet wise gopher.

[AFP]


Science Hard At Work On Inception Technology As We Speak

Posted by on July 16th, 2010

The official Weird Things review of Inception? See it. Now. Stop reading.

You back? How awesome was that movie? I know! Remember that part when (REDACTED FOR SPOILERS)? So awesome. Anyhow, here is where science is in terms of making all that a reality. Or rather, a dream. The dream you might share as a reality. Or something.

[Live Science]


Lotto Conspiracies, Space Jumpers & Paul The Octopus Begins His Mind Assault [WeirdThingsTV]

Posted by on July 15th, 2010


Podcast: Alien Prison Riot

Posted by on July 15th, 2010

weird things podcast SM

Andrew, Brian and Justin lay out their brilliant plan for escaping the evil clutches of alien overlords. They then realize how easily a famous psychological experiment could have gone horribly wrong if the three of them had been selected. Brian also shares with the audience his disturbing camouflage technique. Plans for a mission to an Indian massacre are discussed.

Subscribe to the Weird Things podcast on iTunes
Podcast RSS feed
Episode archive
Download url: http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings071410.mp3

[podcast]http://www.itricks.com/upload/WeirdThings071410.mp3[/podcast]


Complete Underwater Volcano Is So Intense

Posted by on July 15th, 2010

Ohmygod! Complete underwater volcano! All the way! It’s so intense! What does it mean? (begins crying)

[Nat Geo]


Can Plants Think?

Posted by on July 15th, 2010

A Polish plant biologist is suggesting that plants are capable of thought.

Plants “remember” information about light, and a certain type of cell transmits that information, much like nerves do in animals.

In the study, which has not yet been published, the researchers found that light shone on one leaf of an Arabidopsis thaliana plant caused the whole plant to respond. The response lasted even after the light source was taken away, suggesting the plant remembered the light input.

Different wavelengths of light produce a different response, suggesting the plants use the information to generate protective chemical reactions — like pathogen defense or food production.

Rick Moranis is terrified.

[Pop Sci]


Stuntman To Attempt Skydive From Edge Of Space

Posted by on July 15th, 2010

Not only will Austrian stuntman Felix Baumgartner attempt to redefine the official limitations of which height a human can fall from without dying immediately he also hopes to break the sound barrier on the way down.

Starting in the stratosphere at 120,000 feet above the ground, Baumgartner will leap from a capsule suspended by a helium balloon near the boundary of space.

Sponsored by the energy drink company Red Bull, Baumgartner’s mission — called Red Bull Stratos — seeks to extend the “safety zone” of human atmospheric bailout last set in 1960 by diver Joe Kittinger. This limit defines the uppermost altitude a human being can safely jump from.

Awesome. Also, he’s already leapt off the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Double complete rainbow.

[Space]


We All Live In A Black Hole

Posted by on July 15th, 2010

skitched-20100715-121219.jpg

Here is one paragraph for you to read:

“Accordingly, our own Universe may be the interior of a black hole existing in another universe.” So concludes Nikodem Poplawski at Indiana University in a remarkable paper about the nature of space and the origin of time.

If that doesn’t make you want to read the rest of this post, you’re a real silly goose.

[Technology Review]


Did Math Professor Crack Lottery Code For Millions?

Posted by on July 14th, 2010

skitched-20100714-231430.jpg

Joan Ginther came from Bishop, Texas. She earned her doctorate in math from Stanford in the 70’s but in more recent times locals saw her exiting a town convenience store carrying $50 reams of scratch off tickets at a time.

Joan Ginter has won the Texas lottery 4 times. She is a millionaire many times over and has declined every attempt by reporters to get her on the record about her winnings.

So how did Ginther do it, then?

Good luck pinning her down to ask.

Ginther has never spoken publicly about her lotto winnings and could not be found for comment. She now lives in Las Vegas after moving away from Bishop, and an answering machine message for a telephone number listed at her address says not to leave a message.

She asked the few people who’ve exchanged more than brief pleasantries with her not to grant interviews and sneaked into lottery headquarters in Austin to collect her winnings with the least publicity the state offers jackpot winners.

Is Joan Ginther astronomically lucky and press shy? Or has she achieved what so many have dreamed of, a mathematical flaw in a system designed to rake in money with only a glimmer of a statistical chance for a payout?

[AP]


Texas Has Gone Chupacabra Crazy!

Posted by on July 14th, 2010

Someone print a t-shirt! Thanks to Weird Things reader Katy for sending this in.

[WFAA]


Debunking The Merciless Monkey Soldier Threat In Afghanistan

Posted by on July 14th, 2010

[CNN]


SPONSORED POST: Ghost Vision

Posted by on July 14th, 2010

Andrew Mayne's Ghost Vision

Scare the
HELL
out of your friends

Ghost Vision by Andrew Mayne

sponsored post by Ad Yeti


Gator Attack!

Posted by on July 13th, 2010

Where does, “Mommy, an alligator bit my hand off” rank in the Top 100 Calls You Never Want To Make?

[CNN]


Propellers In Saturn’s Rings Could Mean A Million Moonlets

Posted by on July 12th, 2010

skitched-20100712-115002.jpg

There’s some kooky stuff going on inside the rings of Saturn. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has identified distinctive giant propellers that could be created by a new class of moon.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spotted the distinctive structures inside some of Saturn’s rings, marking the first time scientists have managed to track the orbits of individual objects from within a debris disk like the one that makes up Saturn’s complicated ring system.

“Observing the motions of these disk-embedded objects provides a rare opportunity to gauge how the planets grew from, and interacted with, the disk of material surrounding the early sun,” said the study’s co-author Carolyn Porco, one of the lead researchers on the Cassini imaging team based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. “It allows us a glimpse into how the solar system ended up looking the way it does.”

Chew on that.

[Space]