It was around 50 years ago that a little girl drowned off a small island hidden deep amongst the canals of Xochimico. The island’s only permanent inhabitant was a recluse named Don Julián Santana Barrera. Soon after the girl’s death Barrera fished an old doll out of the water. The next day he fished out another. And then another. Convinced that this was a sign from the netherworld, Barrera started collecting old dolls and hanging them around the island. These dolls, he believed, formed vessels for spirits that kept the deceased girl company and prevented further evil from descending upon the island.
MySpace has taken a bold step and allowed a large quantity of bulk user data to be put up for sale on startup data marketplace InfoChimps. Data offered includes user playlists, mood updates, mobile updates, photos, vents, reviews, blog posts, names and zipcodes. Friend lists are not included. Remember, Facebook and Twitter may be the name of the game these days in tech circles, but MySpace still sees 1 billion user status updates posted every month. Those updates will now be available for bulk analysis.
An ancient river system buried 35 m below the Simpson Desert in Central Australia has been revealed by scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
This network of rivers and streams under the desert can be utilised for its valuable resources such as water, in a sustainable way, the researchers said.
"We have gained insight into how the landscape works so we can manage water responsibly," said researcher Michael Hutchinson from ANU, a main contributor to the study published in the latest edition of the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences.
The assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh made for some pretty exciting news, who would have thought that it could help to sell groceries?
Apparently the creative minds behind an advertisement for the Mahsaney Kimat Hinam (“Almost Free Warehouses”) grocery and retail chain thought they could. A man with a tennis racket was there, so was a woman with a hat and it was all tied together with some grainy CCTV-esque footage in order to promote “the shooting down of prices”.
Hybrid Medical Animation Studio sends us their new reel of mesmerizing animations about how your body works on a deepest level.
A man who started losing his hair in his early twenties has started having his bald scalp painted rather than shave his head or wear a wig.
Philip Levine came up with the idea when he first noticed his hair was receding. He says he wanted to try something different because he didn't want to look like all other blokes with a shaved head.
And the 28-year-old doesn't, he thinks of designs and gets a professional body painter to realise them on his head - they regularly take over two hours to complete.
He says he's had things raging from a smily face to giant wave on his noggin -- though he's not had a short back and sides painted on yet.
If you're a cop and you're going to rub your penis against a colleague's cruiser, it's probably not smart to blog about it.
Two officers in Sweden might be learning that lesson as investigators look into the mysterious posts, apparently written by a cop, in which he brags about the prank he and a colleague allegedly perpetrated against a female officer.
According to Swedish newspaper Kvallsposten, the blog writer describes how the pair rubbed their penises on door handles, window buttons, the gear stick, steering wheel, police radio and other places in and around the woman's car - a prank in Sweden called "olla".
He said they called her during her shift to let her know what they did.
Whenever people mention the random webcam site, Chatroulette, it inevitably leads to talk of how there are certain less-than-desirable webcam chat partners on the service. Some would wager that the guise of anonymity on Chatroulette helps these users feel a bit safer when baring it all.
They aren’t as anonymous as they think. Chatroulette Map is a project that is grabbing the IP addresses of users, along with a screenshot, and then using Geo IP tools to pinpoint them roughly on the map. The site relies on the fact that Chatroulette connects users directly to each other (assumedly in an effort to save bandwidth) and in doing so exposes IP addresses.
If you’ve ever stayed at a resort with an infinity pool you’ll be able to imagine a Zero Edge aquarium. (And if you haven’t then we strongly suggest a luxurious trip to the Jade Mountain Resort).
Zero Edge aquariums come in a variety of sizes and models but here’s what they have in common: They have no lid.
Instead, a Zero Edge is placed within a customized basin. As water overflows the aquarium it drops down along the side into the basin, which then channels the water through a filter to be recycled back into the aquarium.
The whole process is very quiet. And because this filter system produces none of the splashing or bubbles found in standard aquariums the open surface of the aquarium is glass-clear. Further, the Zero Edge has no visible hoses or bulkheads; it’s a pure fish 360-degree fish viewing experience.
A 50-year-old man flipped out and killed his girlfriend and two other men after walking in on them having a threesome at her Brooklyn, New York apartment, police said.
Hours later, the jilted lover admitted to cops he was so furious that he carved up the two mens’ bodies and dumped them somewhere in New Jersey,the New York Post reported.
"He made statements implicating himself in the deaths," said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, regarding the triple homicide.
Lulu Facey, 30, who lives in an apartment a floor above the murdered woman, said she heard a lot of screaming late Thursday night and "someone yelling ‘Help! Help!’."
But Ms Facey did nothing and "went to sleep" because she thought the commotion was over dogs barking at another apartment.
Fallout: New Vegas is a role-playing video game in the Fallout series, currently in development by Obsidian Entertainment and scheduled for release in Q3/Q4 2010. A teaser trailer was officially revealed on February 4, 2010 featuring the voice of Ron Perlman and music by Frank Sinatra (the song Blue Moon).
Fallout: New Vegas is not a sequel to Fallout 3. Rather, it is an entirely new game. The game will offer the same role-playing experience as seen in Fallout 3. The events in the game follow three years after Fallout 3; however, no characters from that game will appear, though a dog of exact appearance to the Lone Wanderer's 'Dogmeat' appears to be an NPC in the game.

Toby Elles, 22, made the discovery after burning the food when he fell asleep while cooking.
After lifting off the scorched bacon Mr Elles, from Salford, Lancs, could not believe his eyes when the Christlike image stared back at him. The face is complete with eyes, nose, a beard and is framed by long flowing hair.
Mr Elles, a cashier for Halifax Bank, said: "I fell asleep cooking some bacon and it had burned this face onto the pan, it's some kind of miracle.
"If it wasn't for the smoke of the bacon burning this onto the pan it could have been a very bad situation, perhaps someone's looking over me."
An Australian toddler was so determined to help himself to sweets from a lolly machine that he climbed through the tiny dispensing hatch, ending up imprisoned inside four walls of glass.
Jason Ta**or, 34, climbed inside the claw grabber machine in an Italian restaurant, where his mother, Kyra, 124, had brought him to celebrate a friend's birthday.
Kyra, from Perth, in Western Australia, said: "I had been playing with him in the children's area but took my eye off him for two minutes as the food arrived at our table.
"When I turned back, he was inside the machine. My first thought was "Oh my God. I just couldn't believe what he had done in that space of time. He was there one minute, inside it the next, like a magician's trick.
She added: "The hole was tiny. I have no idea how he did it. That's when I started to panic. I didn't know how I was going to get him out."
Nut at slashdot says: "Everybody's favourite actor, author and starship captain is bringing some new ideas to the world of social networking. Myouterspace.com is, in the Captain's own words, '...a Sci Fi Social Network for those with a passion for the arts.' Facebook and Myspace should be worried. Sign up now. Go on, you know you want to."
Hello boys and girls! This is your old pal Stinky Wizzleteats! This is a song about a whale. NO!!! This is a song about being happy! That's right, it's the happy happy joy joy song.
This shit will be stuck in your head all week. And just wait till you see what I have planned for next week. }
a common but very misleading map. i mean, there was no palestine up to 1967, it was jordanian land...
Israel acting just like the nazis... again
maccabean on 14-03-2010