RedmondChris writes "A team of scientists from Joseph Fourier University in France have successfully implanted biofuel cells into rats, generating 6.5 microwatts by harnessing the power of glucose. From the article: 'The device uses enzymes to harvest energy from glucose and oxygen found naturally in the body. Past attempts at using such a device in animals have failed because the enzymes have required acidic conditions or were inhibited by charged particles in the fluid surrounding cells. But Philippe Cinquin and his team from Joseph Fourier University in Grenoble, France, overcame these obstacles by confining selected enzymes inside graphite discs that were placed into dialysis bags. Glucose and oxygen flowed into the device, but enzymes stayed in place and catalyzed the oxidation of glucose to generate electrical energy.'"

The Nirvana Memorial Garden columbarium is done with boring old traditional Buddhist funeral ceremonies. They offer a funeral with recorded voices and chants, machine-generated smoke, a $2 million sound and light system, a Buddha statue with pulsating LED lights, and a ray of bright white light that shines on the urn of the deceased symbolizing the ascent to heaven. "This is just 60 percent of what we can offer," said Jessie Ong, who works for Nirvana Memorial, the company that runs the columbarium. "We are still fine-tuning the laser lights."

You might not consider edible panties food, but San Antonio's Sanitarian Services Manager, Stephen Barschewski, disagrees. The Shades of Love lingerie store was recently told that it needed a food permit to sell edible novelties. The permit costs $230 a year, and makes the store subject to regular health inspections. From the article: "Rosemary Benitez thought it was a joke at first. She was told her store was going to need a food permit in order to stay in business. But Benitez doesn't own a restaurant. She owns the Shades of Love lingerie store on West Bitters road. Shades of Love sells racy lingerie, high heel shoes, adult toys, and items meant to enhance a couple's sex life. However, some of those items are edible. That's why the health department ruled the store needed a food permit."

pinkstuff writes "The Navy unveiled its terror-fighting marine mammals at a two-day homeland security and disaster preparedness exercise in California this week. From the article: 'A Navy seal — actually a sea lion — took less than a minute to find a fake mine under a pier near San Francisco's AT&T Park. A dolphin quickly located a terrorist lurking in the black water before another sea lion, using a device carried in its mouth, cuffed the pretend saboteur's ankle so authorities could reel him in.' Queue the 'frickin lasers' jokes."

NotSoHeavyD3 writes "I doubt this is much of a surprise but apparently Cornell University did a study that seems to show you're more likely to get convicted if you're ugly. From the article: 'According to a Cornell University study, unattractive defendants are 22 percent more likely to be convicted than good-looking ones. And the unattractive also get slapped with harsher sentences — an average of 22 months longer in prison.'"

Researchers have discovered that the world's oldest sex toy, found in a cave in Germany, was used to heat things up in places other than the bedroom. They say the 30,000-year-old siltstone phallus doubled as a tool to ignite fires. From the article: "The prehistoric phallus, which has marks where it was obviously used for striking against flints, also features carved rings around one polished end. Researchers say it's easy to see what it was used for. The scientists pieced together the multitasking tool from more than a dozen fragments found in a cave complex linked with the activities not of the Neanderthals, but of modern humans."

22-year-old Ashley Johnson lost her job after she complained about a poor tip on Facebook. She felt the $5 tip from a couple who had sat in her section for 3 hours was a joke, and wrote about it on the social networking site. From the article: "Brixx officials told Johnson a couple of days later that she was being fired because she violated a company policy banning workers from speaking disparagingly about customers and casting the restaurant in a bad light on a social network." Silly Ashley, as everyone who has worked in a restaurant can tell you, complaining on Facebook isn't the answer. If you want to get back at bad customers you overcharge them, or put something in their food.

Italian prosecutors believe that thousands of small, lower-end pizza shops in Naples may be using wood from coffins dug up in the local cemetery to cook their pizzas. From the article: "'A gang might have set up a market for coffins sold to hard-hearted owners of bakeries and pizzerias looking to save money on wood,' Il Giornale said. According to tradition, Neapolitan pizza should be cooked in a stone oven with an oak-wood fire."

teh31337one writes "Google is refusing to advertise CougarLife, a dating site for mature women looking for younger men. However, they continue to accept sites for mature men seeking young women. According to the New York Times, CougarLife.com had been paying Google $100,000 a month since October. The Mountain View company has now cancelled the contract, saying that the dating site is 'nonfamily safe.'"

Jack Watkins, 25, and engineers Chris Hayes, 24, and Dave Sibley, 25, have succeeded in crossing Italy's Lake Garda in a huge, inflated bouncy castle. "Great Britain has such a great tradition as a seafaring nation and we really feel we have played no role at all in adding to this," admitted intrepid waterman Hayes. "That said, it was possibly the most fun we have ever had and we really never believed this most frivolous of dreams would ever be realized."

Gabriella Nagy says the billing practices of Rogers Wireless Inc. allowed her husband to discover her extramarital affair, and she's not happy about it. She is now suing the company for $600,000, alleging invasion of privacy and breach of contract. "The husband used the previously private and confidential information that the defendant unilaterally disclosed to the husband to inquire about the people that the plaintiff was telephoning and the nature of such calls," the statement of claim says.

It's one of the fastest-growing health issues that doctors now face: "Google-itis." Everyone from concerned mothers to businessmen on their lunch break are typing in symptoms and coming up with rare diseases or just plain wrong information. Many doctors are bringing computers into examination rooms now so they can search along with patients to alleviate their fears. "I'm not looking for a relationship where the patient accepts my word as the gospel truth," says Dr. James Valek. "I just feel the Internet brings so much misinformation to the (exam) room that we have to fight through all that before we can get to the problem at hand."

Orville Richardson had one simple wish for his end. When he died, he wanted his head cut off and cryogenically frozen by Alcor Life Extension Foundation. His family had other plans however, and had Orville buried. Alcor sued the family and the Iowa Court of Appeals has ordered the relatives to exhume his body so his head can be removed and put in frozen storage. Nothing warms the heart like a good head-freezing story.

40-year-old Paul Hutton has lost his license for three years after driving an electric Barbie car while intoxicated. Hutton was found to be twice the legal limit while he was recklessly driving the bright pink vehicle with a top speed of 4mph. "You have to be a contortionist to get in, and then you can't get out. I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving but I was a twit to say the least. It is designed for three-to-five-year-olds. Originally it was a pink Barbie car but I put bigger wheels on it but it's not fast. I'm not unhappy with my punishment, just a little bit surprised," he said.

The ACLU is suing the police in Pennsylvania for issuing tickets to people who swear. They argue that it is every American's constitutional right to drop an F-bomb. From the article: "'Unfortunately, many police departments in the commonwealth do not seem to be getting the message that swearing is not a crime,' said Marieke Tuthill of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. 'The courts have repeatedly found that profanity, unlike obscenity, is protected speech.'" This is a big f*cking deal.

eugene ts wong writes "A humanoid robot conducted a wedding ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday. This was the first time a robot has ever conducted a wedding ceremony. The I-Fairy is a four-foot-tall seated robot with glowing eyes that change colors and has plastic pigtails. The ceremony took place at a restaurant in Hibiya Park in Tokyo."

RichDiesal writes "In this blog post, I describe a new use for augmented reality — treating people for cockroach phobia. A recent paper in the academic journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking discusses a system where people suffering from cockroach phobia sit at a desk with a virtual reality headset. The headset has a camera on the front so that patients see the desk they're sitting at — but covered in cockroaches. In the study, researchers managed to elicit a fear response to virtual cockroaches similar to what would be experienced with real cockroaches. Sounds like a little slice of hell to me."

flynny51 writes "Dr. Dylan Evans of the School of Medicine, University College, Cork, Ireland, has had a two-year period of intensive monitoring and counseling imposed upon him and as a result his application for tenure is likely to be denied. His offense — sharing an article from a peer-reviewed journal on fellatio in fruit bats."

calmofthestorm writes "Some 20,000 pieces of mail — many more than a decade old — have been recovered from a postman's garage in Philadelphia. The FBI said it took more than three postal vans to remove the mail. Investigators are still trying to find the postman so they can question him."

semmelbroesel writes "I hope none of you ever have to take a trip to this province in China where a confession (even when forced by violence) seems to weigh more than hard evidence. The alleged murderer Zhao Zuohai spent 10 years out of a 29-year sentence in prison before his alleged victim showed up looking for welfare support. From the article: 'The imprisoned Zhao's brother told the local Dahe Newspaper that police had forced him to drink chili water and set off fireworks over his head to force the confession. The imprisoned Zhao narrowly escaped being executed for the crime. His sentence was commuted from a death penalty with two years' reprieve."