- Creationists take on Dr. Pepper. They do know he’s not a real doctor, don’t they?
- Speaking of which: Video Dial-a-Doctor Seen Easing Shortage in Rural U.S.
- Tree removal for space shuttle arrival tempers excitement:
For some South L.A. residents, the excitement of Endeavour rumbling through their neighborhoods en route to the California Science Center faded when they learned that 400 trees had to be cut down.
- Birds Hold Funerals for Their Dead
- And finally, Johnny Carson’s senior thesis: How to Write Comedy for Radio [via]
animals
Thursday various
- The dogs of the Moscow Metro.
- First successful firing of a 3D-printed gun. Oh good.
- Man’s rare vision problem cured after Hugo 3D rebooted his brain. [via]
- Amazingly enough, not an Onion story:
Last week, a hopeful prospect showed up at LSU’s July football camp. He posted an impressive 4.46 40-yard dash, and he earned a scholarship offer from the Tigers’ coaching staff for his efforts.
It’s a scene that plays out on college campuses every single summer, although this offer was different for one main reason — Dylan Moses has yet to start eighth grade. [via]
- And finally, while I’m not 100% sure about the message, this is a neat piece of art:
Tuesday various
- With Coffee, the Price of Individualism Can Be High. We have these K-cups at work, with a Keurig machine. And beyond most of the coffee blends not being especially good, I think the convenience for a largeish workplace is definitely worth it. I drink so little coffee I’d feel a little annoyed if I had to help remake a fresh pot regularly. (The Keurig also makes tea and cocoa, so there’s that.) [via]
- One word: Megafishes. [via]
- Breakthrough: The first sound recordings based on reading people’s minds [via]
- ‘Huffington Post’ Employee Sucked Into Aggregation Turbine. I think I would like HuffPo more if it wasn’t a huge content farm fronted by unexceptional celebrity essays and stories from other websites, where millions of dollars go to line the pockets of Arianna Huffington but not a cent goes to the writers. Or at least if people on Twitter would stop linking to it as much.
- And finally, the real question: does anyone have sixty-thousand dollars I could borrow? [via]
Monday various
- Last week, after my little elevator mishap, I linked to the story of Nicholas White, whose ordeal being trapped in an elevator was much worse than my own. We even joked about it, the two of us, while we waited to be released last Friday. He was trapped for 40-something hours.
Turns out, it only got worse after that:
He got a lawyer, and came to believe that returning to work might signal a degree of mental fitness detrimental to litigation. Instead, he spent eight weeks in Anguilla. Eventually, Business Week had to let him go. The lawsuit he filed, for twenty-five million dollars, against the building’s management and the elevator-maintenance company, took four years. They settled for an amount that White is not allowed to disclose, but he will not contest that it was a low number, hardly six figures. He never learned why the elevator stopped; there was talk of a power dip, but nothing definite. Meanwhile, White no longer had his job, which he’d held for fifteen years, and lost all contact with his former colleagues. He lost his apartment, spent all his money, and searched, mostly in vain, for paying work. He is currently unemployed.
That was in 2008, so he may have since landed back on his feet. But it’s amazing how quickly a life can change. He was just coming back from a quick smoke outside.
It could be worse, though, as a more recent elevator accident will attest.
- Congress Ponders Adding GED Requirement to Unemployment Benefits. Spoken like a group of people who’ve never been unemployed (or struggled for an education) a day in their lives. [via]
- In New Hampshire, meanwhile, they want to eliminate the mandatory lunch break. Just on paper, you know. Because it’s an occasional headache for a couple of HR departments. Nobody would ever think of abusing this and denying workers time off for meals! [via]
- And I guess we’ll make this a trifecta of people who should know better doing reprehensible things: Cardinal Edward Egan Just Withdrew His Apology For The Catholic Sex-Abuse Scandal. “Nope, nothing to see here. My bad for copping to it earlier.” [via]
- And finally, on a happier note: Roast Beef, the therapy penguin. Seriously, the day before I saw this story, we were joking at work that we should publish a book on penguin therapy.
I wonder if Roast Beef would need a co-author…
Tuesday various
- Has literature always been dying since the beginning?
- Pictures of David Bowie doing normal stuff [via]
- The New York Times wonders if it should investigate the news. No, really. (More here.) [via]
- First Hybrid Shark Found: “The first-ever observed hybrid may be a sign the predators are adapting to climate change.” [via]
- And finally, The Thing in claymation [via]: