The most spectacular disaster porn ever!!!

The face of the new Ambien marketing campaign.

cruff writes "Don't know if the USB Chainsaw is real or not, but the 500 ma provided by a USB port probably won't cut the stuff they show in the video, unless you spend a long time charging a battery. :-) However, imagine the uses to which a properly trained IT person could put this new tool!"

tugfoigel writes "Built by "Kevin" for a contest, this computer-controlled alarm clock is touted as the world's largest. To be more specific, he 'mounted a large air cylinder to the head of [his] bed and a valve, controlled by a computer, which [he programmed] to wake [him] up in the morning.'"

mcgrew writes "The Chicago Tribune is pointing out that shortly after noon today, the time and date will be 12:34:56 7/8/9. The Trib points out that this happens only once or twice per century, although it actually happens twice on the day it happens in. Serious Cubs fans know the first night game at Wrigley Field was played on 8/8/88 — which just happens to be four sideways infinity symbols. I imagine you can make any day 'special' like this if you try hard enough."

Somerset needs to hire a witch, and not just any witch will do. The town needs one who is willing to live in the Wookey Hole Caves, a local tourist attraction. The job pays £50,000 a year. Applicants "must be able to cackle," and "must not be allergic to cats." The job is open to men, women, and even trans-gender witches, to comply with sexual discrimination laws. "Wookey Hole wants the appointee to go about her everyday business as a hag, so that people passing through the caves can get a sense of what the place was like in the Dark Ages. This was when an old woman lived in the caves with some goats and a dog causing a variety of social ills including crop failures and disease. So the job is straightforward: live in the cave, be a witch, and do the things witches do," said Daniel Medley, from Wookey Hole Caves.

When faced with a problem, the only thing in Antonio Chiaia's toolbox appears to be his double-barrel 12-gauge. The 74-year-old was arrested for using his shotgun to try to get rid of a tree limb in his backyard. He told police that he couldn't reach it with his saw so he thought he might be able to shoot it off. Police charged Chiaia with unlawful discharge of a firearm and second-degree reckless endangerment.

An English court has ruled that David Peers is not allowed to be drunk anywhere in England or Wales until 2016. Peers has been charged 11 times for his drunken anti-social behavior, and has been arrested for fighting, verbally abusing town residents, and occasionally urinating on shop windows. Doug Stott, of Surrey Police, said, "David Peers has a history of drinking and disorderly behaviour. Despite extensive intervention by Surrey Police and our partner agencies, Peers has not shown a positive change in his behaviour and has continued to verbally abuse and be aggressive towards local businesses and residents."

It's heavier than it looks.

In an attempt to boost test scores, some Austrian students will be able to "phone a friend" if they get stuck on a test question. The students will be able to call teachers, doctors, or other experts for help when they don't know an answer. Teacher Reinhard Peter came up with the idea while watching "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," and says, "They can call doctors, teachers and other people to ask their help. Many of them suddenly have exam anxiety as though they were sitting in the classroom taking the exam. They get nervous on the phone and feel that if they give the wrong answer they are not only failing themselves but the pupil who is calling them as well." Peter adds that all of his students have passed their exams since he allowed the calls, and he has no plans for installing a 50:50 policy.

The city of Bridgewater, South Dakota is suing meat plant owner and "sell by date" denier, Ilan Parente, for having to clean up his abandoned meat plant. The city spent between $5k-$7k on volunteers, city and county personnel, fire department, emergency management and ambulance personnel to clean up the 44-ton mountain of rotting meat left in the plant. Parente says that he received the bill but will have to consult with his advisers to decide if he would pay. Bridgewater residents speculate that he left the meat behind as payback for past run-ins with local officials. Parente denies these claims and says the putrefying pile was a simple mishap he has been trying to correct for the past month.

The family that replaces the human race together, stays together.

More than 500 workers at Japan's, Keihin Electric Express Railway, must have their faces scanned each morning to determine their optimum smile. The "smile scan" analyzes a smile based on facial characteristics, from lip curves and eye movements to wrinkles. After the program scans you, it produces a smile rating that ranges from zero to 100 depending on the estimated potential of your biggest smile. If your number is sufficient, you can go about your day grinning like a maniac. If your smile number is too low the computer will give you a message such as, "lift up your mouth corners" or "you still look too serious." Every morning employees receive a printout of their daily smile which they are expected to keep with them throughout the day.

It would be a shame if an engineer on a recent Thomas Cook Airlines flight doesn't get a complimentary first class upgrade every time he flies. The engineer was on flight TCX9641 when it was announced that the trip would be delayed eight hours, while a mechanic was flown in to fix a problem. Luckily for the other passengers, the engineer happened to work for Thomsonfly Airlines, which has a reciprocal maintenance agreement with Thomas Cook. After about 35 minutes the man fixed the problem and the flight was on its way. A spokeswoman for Thomas Cook said, "When they announced there was a technical problem he came forward and said who he was. We checked his licence and verified he was who he said he was, and he was able to fix the problem to avoid the delay. We are very grateful that he was on the flight that day."

If you're looking for a cheap vacation spot this year, Afghanistan's newly built Tourist Information Center, sure hopes you give their country a chance. Government officials are training tour guides and teaching restaurant owner's about customer service expectations. "Afghanistan is definitely a good brand. People will come... They go to Nepal this year, they go to Chile the next year, they're off to Afghanistan if it's accessible," said Andrew Scanlon, a protected areas expert working on an U.N. mapping project. Afghanistan: come for the calcium carbonate-laden ground, stay because the airport got bombed.

Luke Tipping, the Michelin-starred executive chef of Simpsons' in Birmingham, and Laslan's British Curry Award-winner Aktar Islam, have decided your baby should only eat the finest. They've come up with baby food that is worthy of a Michelin star including such favorites as: warm vermicelli pudding, scented with cinnamon and green cardamom, sprinkled with crush pistachio and rusk croutons, and dill-seasoned cheddar cheese fish pie accompanied with fresh broccoli and sweetcorn. Mr Tipping said, "There's nothing wrong with a baby eating a fresh meal, I would rather they did that than give them the usual processed stuff that's out there."

An Italian drug trafficker's plan to escape from jail with the help of a four-meter-long radio controlled zeppelin, crashed and burned thanks to some alert police. "The plan consisted of using a remotely controlled zeppelin to bring him night-vision goggles and climbing equipment with which to escape. They would then have gone abroad to lie low while waiting for forged papers and to continue arranging the shipment of narcotics into our country," a National Police statement said.

In addition to making the perfect bar joke, what happens when you take an Imam, a priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk, and 10 atheists — and put them in the same room? Hopefully for a new Turkish game show, the most entertaining conversion you've ever seen. The prize for converts is a pilgrimage to a holy site of their new religion: Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews, and Tibet for Buddhists. As you might have guessed, Muslim authorities in Turkey don't see the entertainment value of the show. High Board of Religious Affairs Chairman Hamza Aktan said, "Doing something like this for the sake of ratings is disrespectful to all religions. Religion should not be a subject for entertainment programs."

There's nothing like a creationist science fair with a touch of racism.

Wired has an amusing writeup that accurately captures the most recent ridiculous addition to Bugatti's automobile catalog. The $2.1 million Veyron sports over 1,000 horsepower, a 16-cylinder engine, and a top speed of 245 mph. The guilty conscience comes for free. "That same cash-filled briefcase could buy seven Ferrari 599s or every single 2009 model Mercedes. You could snap up a top-shelf Maybach and employ a chauffeur until well past the apocalypse. Hell, in this economy, $2.1 million is probably enough to make you a one-man special-interest group with some serious Washington clout."