If you've ever thought that the living room could really use a chair covered in spikes, or that you'd love to get your grandmother another tongue clamp for her collection, an upcoming auction in New York may be for you. Guernsey's Auction house has 252 different torture implements for sale, most which date back to the 17th century or earlier. The entire collection is estimated to be worth $3-$4 million and some individual pieces come with rare books showing "early engravings of scenes of torture." Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's Auctions, said, "These are devices created to cause pain ... very diabolical devices. There is one pretty much to cause pain to any part of the body. It's fascinating but terrible."

Punishment has never been so much fun.

bfire writes "McDonalds has earmarked potential changes to seating plans in some restaurants to prevent free Wi-Fi users from monopolizing seating, particularly in peak periods. The availability of Wi-Fi means people are now spending 35 minutes in McDonalds — rather than the average ten minutes that patrons used to spend eating there. But it appears not everyone is happy with the increased 'stickiness' of customers, with some licensees in Australia reporting that Wi-Fi users aren't turning over seats fast enough. The restaurant chain is considering options including space demarcation to deal with the problem."

The Kelly Tarlton Arctic Encounter in Orakei, New Zealand, is gearing up to hold the first ever "Penguathlon". The five events that the King and Gentoo penguins will be competing in are: football, Frisbee, surfing, swing ball and waddle races. There are even special penguin games for children, who wear giant penguin feet (leopard seal insurance available at the ticket office). "New Zealand has the greatest diversity of penguin species and is arguably the best place in the world to see them. As well as being great fun, the Penguathlon gives people a fantastic chance to get up close with them as well as gaining a better understanding about their welfare," said Gregg Anderson, Tourism New Zealand's Regional Manager for UK and Europe.

A school bus driver in Hempstead, N.Y. found a pair of pipe bombs in her driveway last Friday. Since she has spent years of her life dealing with some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, New York public school students, she didn't think twice about wrapping them up in a towel, putting them in the bus, and hand delivering them to the local police station. The police on the other hand didn't think it was such a good idea and told her to pull over immediately after she called and told them her plans. An Atlantic Express spokeswoman, the driver's employer, said, "It's unacceptable in every possible way. She will not be driving for this company again."

I think you'll find all the important food groups covered here.

Having figured out everything there is to know about space, and being huge fans of Space Jam, NASA has left some of their sciencey stuff behind and made room for a pair of basketballs on the Space Shuttle Atlantis. One of the balls comes courtesy of The Harlem Globetrotters, and the other is on loan from the University of Chicago. It was used by Edwin Hubble in a 1909 victory against Indiana University. "It is only fitting that the team that has seen more of the world than any other in history would have a presence beyond the stratosphere," Globetrotters chief executive officer Kurt Schneider said in a news release.

A Pueblo County High School history teacher was surprised that people would think giving 110 freshmen an assignment to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism was a bad idea. The teacher says the assignment was to illustrate an act of terrorism on American soil, and that she just learned places and dates in college, and not common sense. Gini Fischer, a mother of one of the students, says, "To ask them to use their creative energies to come up with a plot for an act of terrorism is very ludicrous".

A middle school in China has encouraged children to punch effigies of their teachers to work out frustration. Lichang 1st Middle School in Jinan puts pictures of their teachers on sandbags and gives the kids boxing gloves as part of a new "physical release" program. The school also offers private chat and consultation rooms so the students can use their words and not their fists, but Vice principal Meng Fanxiang says that most boys choose the sandbags. "Adolescent students may have a lot of problems and be under great pressure from studies. It's better for them to release it within the school than other places," Meng says. While this is a big step in the battle against school and workplace resentment, it is still frowned upon to tape a sign that reads, "Your Face!" to a pumpkin in your boss's front yard and shoot it with an AR-15. I guess everyone deals with frustration differently.

"What if every little girl's dream became mankind's worst nightmare?"

I would love to discuss your complaint. If you could just give that bolt a half turn, we can get started.

whoever57 writes "In response to the school shooting in March in which 16 people were killed, the German Government plans to ban all games in which players shoot at each other with pellets. The rationale for this is that 'paintball trivializes violence and risks lowering the threshold for committing violent acts.' Fines could be up to 5,000 euros."

BoyIHateMicrosoft! writes "A friend of mine sent me this link today about a group of MIT students who have created something called a WoWPod. It's like a playhouse for WoW players. It has everything from Refreshing Spring Water, to food (Like Crunchy Spider Surprise of course!) to a toilet and of course the appropriate gaming gear."

Sikh police officers are pushing the British government to come up with a bullet-proof turban design so they can serve as firearms officers. Their religious requirement of wearing a turban prevents them from wearing the protective headgear a firearms officer must have. "We would like to follow any opportunity where we could manufacture a ballistic product, made out of a synthetic fibre, that would ensure a certain degree of protection, so Sikh police officers could take part in these roles," said Inspector Gian Singh Chahal, vice-chairman of the newly formed British Police Sikh Association.

youth68 writes "Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as 'bird-eating spiders' and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane."

Phase 1: Break into a realty office, and steal a computer hard drive.

Phase 2: Ask if they will pay you $50 to fix the computer.

Phase 3: Get charged with theft and receiving stolen property!

Guan Baihua has reinvented the wheel, oddly. The 50-year-old retired Chinese military officer has patented a bicycle with odd-sided wheels. The bike took him 18 months to develop and features a front wheel that is a pentagon and a back wheel that is a triangle. "There are too many identical mass-manufactured things. More and more, people like weird and rarely seen stuff. Making this bike gives people an alternative," he said. A single-cube ice tray, a hammer featuring a self-lubricating handle, and a social networking site are rumored to be Gaun's next big projects.

Looks like the bridge club will finally get what's coming to them.

Thanks to researchers at Cranfield University, you don't have to feel bad when you plow into a group of pedestrians who are crossing the street too slowly. They have designed an external airbag that mounts to your hood at the base of the windshield. Research shows that this is the area where a pedestrian's head is most likely to hit in an accident. "Test results indicate that the system works extremely well. When fitted to a demonstrator vehicle not originally designed with pedestrian protection in mind, the results were well inside all current legal criteria for pedestrian protection currently in force in Europe," Roger Hardy of the university's Cranfield Impact Centre said.

A pig that was a gift to the Kabul zoo from China has been quarantined due to swine flu fears. Pork and all things pig produced are illegal in Afghanistan because they are considered irreligious. The pig at the zoo is the only known pig in the country. "For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza. We've done this because people are worried about getting the flu," Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. Just wait until people hear about chickenpox.