longacre writes "A man on trial in New York for possession of a weapon has been acquitted after subpoenaing his arresting officer's Facebook and MySpace accounts. His defense: Officer Vaughan Ettienne's MySpace 'mood' was set to 'devious' on the day of the arrest, and one day a few weeks before the trial, his Facebook status read 'Vaughan is watching "Training Day" to brush up on proper police procedure.' From the article: '"You have your Internet persona, and you have what you actually do on the street," Officer Ettienne said on Tuesday. "What you say on the Internet is all bravado talk, like what you say in a locker room." Except that trash talk in locker rooms almost never winds up preserved on a digital server somewhere, available for subpoena.'"

rjshirts writes "In further proof that Planet of the Apes is coming to pass, researchers in Stockholm, Sweden have proof that primates can plan ahead. From the article: 'Santino the chimpanzee's anti-social behavior stunned both visitors and keepers at the Furuvik Zoo but fascinated researchers because it was so carefully prepared. According to a report in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old alpha male started building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opened, collecting rocks and knocking out disks from concrete boulders inside his enclosure. He waited until around midday before he unleashed a "hailstorm" of rocks against visitors, the study said.'"

Workers at a state school for mentally handicapped adults in Texas are accused of staging a "fight club" among residents. A cell phone containing videos of the fights, believed to have taken place in a school dormitory at the Corpus Christi State School, was turned over to police. Corpus Christi police Capt. Tim Wilson said, "This has been going on for some time. That is what makes this an exceptional case. It is not the workers abusing the clients, so to speak. The workers are not hitting them, but they are allowing these clients to fight with each other, thereby endangering their well-being. These people are charged with the care and custody of these clients, and they are exploiting (them)." The first and second rule of running a school for the mentally disabled is, no fight club.

At least they are easier to spot than IEDs.

The Vatican newspaper says that the washing machine did more to liberate women than the pill or the right to work. "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of Women - Put in the Detergent, Close the Lid and Relax," ran on Sunday to mark international Women's Day. It's strange that the Vatican made no mention of the liberating aspects of cooking, or doing what you are told.

No, Michael did not have another child. Marijuana Pepsi Jackson is a schoolteacher with a master's degree in higher education administration, and a very unfortunate name. Her mother, Maggie Johnson, picked her name. Her father objected but lost the argument. To this day, a lot of family members and best buds call her Pepsi. "Everybody I meet says this: You're nothing like I thought you'd be," she says.

Gordon Brown has declared that the English will get more online powers to rate GPs, police, childcare and councils. Brown said, "We are ushering in a new world of accountability in which parents, patients and local communities shape the services they receive, ensuring all our public services respond not simply to the hand of government, but to the voice of local people." As we all know, the anonymity of the internet leads people to be honest, and to use feedback services in a responsible manner.

Sometimes your car needs to have a little fun.

The batteries are filled with liquid gold.

hundredrabh writes "Ever had a super needy girlfriend that demanded all your love and attention and would freak whenever you would leave her alone? Irritating, right? Now imagine the same situation, only with an asexual third-generation humanoid robot with 100kg arms. Such was the torture subjected upon Japanese researchers recently when their most advanced robot, capable of simulating human emotions, ditched its puppy love programming and switched over into stalker mode. Eventually the researchers had to decommission the robot, with a hope of bringing it back to life again."

San Francisco official say they are considering having a group of police officers suddenly appear to arrest people in flash mobs, and then disperse off to jail. This year's Valentine's Day pillow fight has angered some officials. They say the episode left the city with thousands of dollars in damage and cleanup costs due to mounds of wet, sticky feathers. The promoters of the counterculture event, now in its fourth year, must take responsibility for future happenings or "otherwise we are going to have to find a way to shut it down," said Lisa Seitz Gruwell of the Recreation and Park Department.

They're working on a "The Silence of the Lambs" coloring book too.

It's important to know how to accessorize your St. Bernard for an urban environment.

Russia has come up with a great idea to improve the image of their nuclear industry, a beauty pageant. Each of the 200 participants in the "Miss nuclear reactor 2009" contest are connected in some way to the nuclear power business. The only problem I see is figuring out which of the winner's heads to put the crown on.

New Jersey State Police plan on going car-fishing with the help of divers and underwater robots next month. Environmentalists say many cars and trucks have been shoved into the lower Hackensack River, polluting the northern New Jersey waterway with gasoline, oil and antifreeze. The car-fishing crew will attach air bags to lift them to the surface so they can be hauled off.

Nicole Marie Loretta Leonard, 25, has been charged with disturbing a funeral and disorderly conduct. She danced in front of the service, waved a wand around the casket, opened the lid, laid her hands on the deceased's head and struck the body with a wand. Tammy Fausel said her family were shocked at what happened during her uncle's service. "Everybody was just kind of flabbergasted. They didn't know what was going on," she said. When police asked Nicole why she acted the way she did, she said, "she felt that it was the right thing to do at the time." That's right Nicole, go with your gut.

I'm not sure this really saves you any time.

A new French website allows children to pay older students to do their homework for them. Faismesdevoirs.com (domyhomework.com) allows children to buy answers to simple maths problems for 5 euros ($6), while a full end-of-year presentation complete with slides and speaking notes costs 80 euros ($100). Founder Stephane Boukris says, "I realized there was a gap in the market. Add to that a dose of insolence, a zest of arrogance and the internet, and you have faismesdevoirs.com." I thought cheating on homework was what older siblings were for.

eldavojohn writes "Twenty Five years ago this week a little film called 'This is Spinal Tap' came out that probably confused many but became what is arguably the greatest cult film of all time. Now you can catch Tap on their 25th Anniversary Tour where they'll be playing not only Spinal Tap songs but also numbers from A Mighty Wind. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer will be hitting 30 cities on a tour soon."

What it lacks in privacy it makes up for in leg room.