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."

JoshuaInNippon writes "Japan has gone life-size anime model crazy. Last year there was the robotic 1:1 Gundam model that guarded Tokyo for a few months in the summer to mark the series' 30th anniversary, and then there was the giant Gigantor moment that opened in Kobe in the fall in honor of the city's rejuvenation from the devastating 1995 earthquake. Now, an amusement park near Mt. Fuji named Fuji-Q Highland is building an Eva Unit 01 from the popular Neon Genesis Evangelion series, or at least a bust of it, in conjunction with the series' recent movies. The bust will sit in a replica hanger, and reportedly stand around 9 meters tall. Visitors will have the chance, for a little extra money, to have their photo taken in the unit's cockpit, where the series' protagonist-of-sorts Shinji Ikari normally sits. The attraction is set to a cost of over US$1.6 million to build, and open on July 23 of this year. It will also undoubtedly be swamped by crazed fans looking the opportunity to bring their anime dreams to life."

nj_peeps writes "75 years ago Carl Magee filed a patent application for what would become one of the most hated inventions in history: the parking meter. From the article: 'Magee's brainwave was to install a device that had a coin acceptor and a dial to engage a timing mechanism. A visible pointer and flag indicated the expiration of the paid period, meaning you either had to move, put in more money, or face the wrath of the local constabulary. The design continued largely unchanged for more than 40 years.'"

Nutrition guru Gary Null may be best known as an advocate for alternative medicines, or for his stance that HIV does not cause AIDS, but his recent lawsuit may raise more eyebrows. Gary is suing the maker of his pre-packaged "Power Meals," claiming that they will make you sick. From the article: "In a lawsuit filed in New York on April 26, Gary Null alleges that he became severely ill after eating a dietary supplement that caused him to develop a number of painful symptoms. In fact, Gary Null alleges, 'Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal' almost killed Gary Null."

littlekorea writes "Indian outsourcing firm Radiant Info Systems has found yet another way to lower wages — hiring data entry clerks from a local prison. Some 200 inmates will be paid $2.20 a day to handle manual data entry tasks for Radiant's BPO deals in a pilot for the scheme. Radiant execs told the BBC that the deal will provide skills to inmates when they are released from prison. No doubt they would also be due for a pay raise." They're going to need to cut wages if they want to be competitive with the 100,000 US prisoners who work for 25 cents an hour.

He makes a lot of good points between threats and stereotypes.

The best homemade micro-cannon video you'll see all day.

Women may still face tough obstacles in the workplace, but if the "Potty Parity Act" passes they will have a slightly shorter wait to use bathrooms in federal buildings. The act seeks to require a 1-to-1 ratio for women's and men's restrooms. From the article: "'A lot of times people, when I dealt with this bill, called it "potty parity." They made jokes,' said Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., who proposed similar legislation as a state lawmaker that was enacted in the 1990s. 'The fact is, it's not a joke. Not only is it not a joke to women, it's not a joke to men who go with the women who have to wait while they're standing in line,' he said. 'It's also politically very popular. It's the right thing to do and it's catching up with the cultural lag in our society.'"

aftertaf writes "North Korea claims to have achieved nuclear fusion by building what it describes as a 'unique thermo-nuclear reaction device.' This announcement was met by skepticism on just about every news website this side of Saturn. Pyongyang claims its latest scientific breakthrough coincides with the birthday of the country's founder and eternal president Kim Il-sung. This is not the first time it seems that the laws of nature have been bent in his honor. According to official biographies, when his son, Kim Jong-il, was born, a new star appeared in the sky." No doubt the Dear Leader combined the atomic nuclei by hand.

Why would you want to be plain old Richard Smith when you could be Stormhammer Deathclaw Firebrand? From the article: "Smith, whose friends have traditionally known him by the nickname Spiff, decided that even that nickname wasn't enough to keep him happy. So the 41-year-old care worker from Carlisle has changed his name by deed poll to Stormhammer Deathclaw Firebrand." It's no Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, but it's alright.

A British website called crabrevenge.com will help you prove that there is literally nothing you can't find online by selling you pubic lice. A disclaimer on the site says the creators "do not endorse giving people lice," and the lice are for "novelty purposes only." The company also boasts about a facility "where we do all of our parasite husbandry and carefully considered selective breeding." Three different packages are available: "Green package - One colony that can lay as many as 30 eggs for about $20. Blue package - Three colonies to share with your friends or freeze a batch or two for about $35. Red package - A vial of 'shampoo-resistant F-strain crabs' which can take up to two weeks to kill for about $52."

An anonymous reader writes "The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could be stopped with an underground nuclear blast, a Russian newspaper reports. Komsomoloskaya Pravda, the best-selling Russian daily, reports that in Soviet times such leaks were plugged with controlled nuclear blasts underground. The idea is simple, KP writes: 'The underground explosion moves the rock, presses on it, and, in essence, squeezes the well's channel.' It's so simple, in fact, that the Soviet Union used this method five times to deal with petrocalamities, and it only didn't work once."