Corporate Troll writes "Robotic penguins were unveiled by German engineering firm Festo this week. Using their flippers, the mechanical penguins (video) can paddle through water just like real ones, while larger helium-filled designs can "swim" through the air. The penguins are on show at the Hannover Messe Trade Exhibition in Germany. Each penguin carries 3D sonar which is used to monitor its surroundings and avoid collisions with walls or other penguins."

61-year-old William J. Fell (not from Sunnyvale Trailer Park), is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from parking meters in the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Police say William, who worked as a meter repairman, took a few coins every time he fixed a meter for over a year. Police spokesman Jody Donaldson told the Washington Post the city suspected something was up because revenue from the meters was falling short. "He'd take a little bit each time," Donaldson told the Post.

Andrea Wachner, like many other people, was dreading her high school reunion, so she decided to have some fun and hire a stripper to impersonate her. Wachner, a freelance comedy writer, made a documentary about it called, "I Remember Andrea." Some of her classmates didn't think the prank/film was funny, and when she posted clips on YouTube from her 40-minute documentary, there was an outcry from '95 alums. "There's definitely a contingency of people who hate me because of this," she said, adding, "I can't think of one thing you could do there where you weren't competing against hundreds of other kids. I didn't really relate to a lot of what the others accepted as the norm, and I was OK with that — it just didn't make it great. Most of the girls I knew had eating disorders. A huge percentage. I'm not scarred by it. It wasn't torture. It was not a miserable experience. But I think high school in and of itself is kind of awful."

Jihadis who can't seem to get rid of those love handles no matter how long they fast finally got some help thanks to a new pro al-Qaeda magazine, Jihad Recollections. The first edition offers workout tips with the aim "to train as hard as possible in order to damage the enemies of Allah as much as possible." Pull-ups, walking on your hands and crawling long distances are just some of the suggested exercises.

It's every Viking's worst nightmare.

Anonymous Swine writes "Monsanto, a US based multinational biotech company, is causing a stir by its plan to patent pig-breeding techniques including the claim on animals born by the techniques. 'Agricultural experts are scrambling to assess how these patents might affect the market, while consumer activists warn that if the company is granted pig-related patents, on top of its tight rein on key feed and food crops, its control over agriculture could be unprecedented. "We're afraid that Monsanto and other big companies are getting control of the world's genetic resources," said Christoph Then, a patent expert with Greenpeace in Germany. The patent applications, filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization, are broad in scope, and are expected to take several years and numerous rewrites before approval.'"

It turns out that space tastes like raspberries and not Tang or freeze-dried ice cream as one might suspect. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy were searching for evidence of amino acids in space when they found ethyl formate, the chemical used in to make raspberry flavoring. The astronomers used the IRAM telescope in Spain to analyze electromagnetic radiation emitted by a hot and dense region of Sagittarius B2 that surrounds a newborn star. Astronomer Arnaud Belloche said, "It [ethyl formate] does happen to give raspberries their flavour, but there are many other molecules that are needed to make space raspberries."

Enjoy a meal and get your feet rubbed.

It's important to memorize the levels at a young age.

eldavojohn writes "The sweet sweet melodies of Queen and the late Freddie Mercury are reproduced by hardware almost as old as the song is. 'There are millions of computers sitting idle at home consuming fantom electricity. Let's see where all that power is going. This is dedicated to all fans of Queen and hey let's not forget about Mike Myers and Dana Carvey of Wayne's World. Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?) Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound, Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar, 8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass, 3.5 inch Hard drive as the gong, HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 separate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.'"

The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology has put the server from The Pirate Bay on display. The server was confiscated in a police raid last year. The museum bought the server for 2,000 kronor ($240) from a member of the Bureau of Piracy, a Swedish group seeking the decriminalization of filesharing. "This is an object of contemporary society and a museum collects such items, and it is a part of our mission as a museum not to avoid complicated questions," curator Nils Olander said. The display is 98% complete and the museum staff has been waiting on a seeder since Thursday.

linuxwrangler writes "Janina Valiente was robbed by a purse snatcher while waiting for a bus in San Francisco. But she remembered that she had recently downloaded Google Latitude as a joke so she and her sisters could 'stalk each other.' Using a bystander's phone, she called her sister who told her the phone was at Fell and Ashbury which is exactly where police located and arrested the robber."

mophab writes "Air-O-Matic, sellers of the pull my finger iPhone application is suing InfoMedia, makers of the iFart iPhone application for trademark infringement. From the article: 'Air-O-Matic sent a letter to InfoMedia, warning that use of the phrase "pull my finger" was a trademark infringement, asking InfoMedia to cease and desist, and requesting compensation for lost sales, estimated at $50,000.' If this doesn't prove IP lawyers are out of control, I don't know what will."

I wonder if the crew will hear the rocks over the engine.

evariste.galois writes "Wikipedia has a special section called, 'Language Philosophy,' in every article for a programming language. This section looks at the motivation and the basic principles of the language design. What if we investigate further than that? What deeper connections between philosophies and programming languages exist? By considering the most influential thinkers of all time (e.g. Plato, Descartes, Kant) we can figure out which programming language fits best with aspects of their philosophy (Did you know that Kant was the first Python programmer)? The list is not exhaustive, but this is a funny and educative start."

Timberwolf0122 writes "An Australian airliner was grounded after four baby pythons escaped from their container in the aircraft's hold. The snakes, just six inches long, were among 12 Stimson's pythons being flown from Alice Springs to Melbourne. At first it was thought the reptiles may have been eaten by the other snakes, but this was discounted after they were weighed on landing. Mace Windu was unavailable for comment on account of him having enough of snakes on a Mother f'ng planes."

The 5 rules of Facebook etiquette.

Nadya Suleman, aka. Octomom, has eaten up her 15 minutes of fame and has moved on to feed on her children's 120. She has filed two applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in an attempt to commercially exploit her tabloid-bestowed nickname. Suleman plans on using the Octomom name on dresses, pants, shirts, and disposable and textile diapers.

You don't need to drink your cocktails at the Alcoholic Architecture bar because a vapor of gin and tonic is constantly pumped into the air. About 40 minutes is enough for the average person to start feeling a little tipsy. Special protective suits are offered to customers, as the G&T mist permeates clothing. The brainchild of Sam Bompas and Harry Parr, the bar has a capacity of 40 people, and a special soundtrack featuring the noise of liquid being poured over ice cubes plays continuously.

Kids don't make the best interior decorators.