An anonymous reader writes "Enigma machines (the machine Germans used to encrypt messages during World War II) are cool, both from the perspective of the technology behind them and the effort that went into cracking them. This project shows how to convert a toy from a second-hand store into an Enigma machine."

A group of teenage burglars appear to have mistaken Doctor Dolittle for a documentary. After breaking into an apartment and stealing various items, one of the thieves decided to kill the goldfish so they couldn't be identified. “According to the police report, he looked at the fish tank and said ‘We can’t leave any witnesses.’” From the article: "When the residents returned home they also found hot sauce, mustard, ketchup and spices had been poured into their fish tank and three goldfish floating at the top, police said."

An anonymous reader writes "Glenn Beck has told his viewers to do research, but to not use Google, because 'Google is pretty deeply in bed with the government.' He points to the fact that Google is having some problems overseas, as well as Jared Cohen. Cohen is Director of Google Ideas, has worked with the State Department, and has played a role in the 2009 unrest in Iran. He also mentions social networking in sinister undertones, asking if it's government propaganda."

Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Daily Mail reports that a 'super pack' of 400 wolves has been terrifying the remote town of Verkhoyansk (population 1,300) in Northern Russia leaving more than 30 horses dead in just four days as twenty four teams of hunters have been put together with a bounty of $335 for every wolf skin brought to officials. 'To protect the town we are creating 24 teams of armed hunters, who will patrol the neighborhood on snowmobiles and set wolf traps' says district official Stepan Rozhin. 'But we need more people. Once the daylight increases, the hunters will start shooting predators from helicopters.' Dr Valerius Geist, a wildlife behavior expert, says the harsh Siberian winter — where temperatures plummet to minus 49C — is the problem with the cold killing off the animal's usual prey. 'Wolves are very careful to choose the most nutritious food source easiest obtained without danger — which in this case happens to be horses,' opines Geist. 'They will start tackling dangerous prey when they run out of non-dangerous prey.'"

Stoobalou writes "Internet auction site eBay has banned a UK man from selling a decommissioned Harrier jump jet. The seller, former RAF mechanic Chris Wilson said, 'It's a perfectly legitimate item to sell. It's not capable of "delivering weapons," it's not even capable of delivering a pizza.'"

carusoj writes "Just in time for Valentine's Day, here's a collection of marriage proposals done in true geek fashion — from hacked video games, to an iPhone app, to CmdrTaco's own 2002 proposal here on Slashdot."

The only thing cooler than a man putting out a house fire with a snowblower is listening to a man with a yooper accent tell the story. Steve Liubakka of Diorite, Michigan managed to contain his neighbors house fire with his quick thinking and his snowblower. "The fire chief told us, well if it wasn't for the snow blower, you wouldn't have a house. The snow blower isn't a $550,000 fire truck, but it did the job," Liubakka says.

An anonymous reader writes "Some historical figures are just too interesting to leave alone, even when they're supposed to be moldering in the grave. That's why medical researchers dug up Tycho Brahe, bombarded Napoleon's hair with neutrons in a nuclear reactor, and did everything they could think of to King Tut. Discover Magazine has 8 stories of delayed diagnoses and extreme postmortems."

Can you think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day than looking at a bunch of animals in flagrante delicto with the special person in your life? The Natural History Museum in London is hoping you can't. The museum is hosting an exhibit entitled, "Sexual Nature" which "explores the diverse ways in which animals have evolved to procreate, such as a snail's love darts, the detachable penis of the paper nautilus, or the outsized testes of the promiscuous chimp." Curator Tate Greenhalgh says, "This exhibition is about the relationship between sex and evolution and the bizarre, surprising adaptations that animals have evolved to procreate as much as possible. We ask people to be open-minded when looking at potentially surprising, maybe shocking things that animals do that would be outlawed in human society."

Stenchwarrior writes "A New York University professor temporarily removed the camera he had surgically installed in the back of his head to get rid of one of the apparatus' parts after his body rejected it, myFOXny.com reported Wednesday. Photography professor Wafaa Bilal was in near constant pain after part of a thumb-nail-size camera, implanted in December as part of an art project commissioned by a new museum in Qatar, was rejected by his body."

English teacher Natalie Munroe is in a bit of hot water after she described the precious snowflakes in her class as: “Frightfully dim,” “Rat-like,” “Am concerned your kid is going to open fire on the school,” “I hate your kid,” and “Seems smarter than she actually is,” on her blog. The Central Bucks School District has suspended Natalie after parents complained to administrators. “It’s hard to know that you sat in her class for an hour and a half a day and for her to feel that way it is like, it is an awful feeling,” student Alli Woloshyn said.

An anonymous reader writes "Despite all the hype that a lowly priest had approved the new confessional app hitting the app store, the truth has now revealed itself. According to today's Daily Mail, a spokesman for the Vatican, Federico Lombardi said: 'It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor. It cannot be replaced by a computer application. I must stress to avoid all ambiguity, under no circumstance is it possible to confess by iPhone."

Thanks to a new art/science exhibition called "Blood Wars," you can find out whose dad has the toughest immune system once and for all. The brainchild of artist Kathy High, "Blood Wars" pits white blood cells from two different people against each other. From the article: "In order to create the blood duel, High gets a phlebotomist to take blood samples from two different people. She then separates the white blood cells from the rest of the blood and stains them using different colors. They are then placed in a Petri dish and their interactions are filmed under a microscope using time-lapse microscopy. The cellular 'winner' of each round will go onto fight another participant."

37-year-old James Hobbs was viciously stabbed in the neck, but luckily for him, he had just picked up a Doner Kebab. James was able to jam the kebab into the 5-inch cut and slow the blood-flow until help arrived. Hobbs said: "I instinctively whacked the kebab to my neck to restrict blood flow. It's pure luck I was hungry." Even with his lunch's greasy help, he still lost lost 6½ pints of blood by the time medics arrived.

ericatcw writes "Despite the strong inroads that mobile devices are making (see this online list of mass iPad rollouts), many skeptics remain unconvinced of their usefulness. That's true even when confronted with news of Microsoft's fear, reasoned arguments, or even old-timey anti-laptop rants that, hilariously, echo all of the same criticism today against tablets. Will this Xtranormal cartoon video depicting two furry woodland creatures on opposite sides of the 'Tablet or PC?' debate sway your mind?"

itwbennett writes "Note to Samsung: If you want to prove how reliable your SD memory cards are, don't hire 'the U.K.'s leading paper plane professional' to build you 100 special paper aircraft. And then definitely don't use a giant helium balloon to send them 122,503 feet into space. Because while some of the planes will fly as far as Sydney and Bangalore, chances are that all the press you'll get will be about the crazy stunt and no one will remember a thing about the SD cards."

netbuzz writes "That's what we are to believe based upon a survey of 14,284 individuals conducted by security vendor Avira. That survey found that 39 percent of respondents 'cursed or yelled at the computer out loud.' And no computer is needed to calculate the implication: 61% of those participating in the poll believe themselves to have never once uttered a profanity or raised their voice in the direction of a malfunctioning machine. Are the majority of us genuinely possessed of such remarkable self-control? Or might some of these self-reported stoics be exercising a bit of selective memory?"

Sonny Yatsen writes "NPR's Robert Krulwich explores the work of several designers who are working on carnivorous furniture. These creations, include a clock that feeds on dead flies, and a table that lures mice into a guillotined death. 'We want robots to be able to get their own energy from the environment,' says co-designer Prof. Melhuish. Let's hope they come up with a lounge chair that eats cockroaches sometime soon."

dbune writes "Belgium has been in political doldrums for a number a months. And now a politician in Belgium believes she has an idea on how to get negotiators to speed up their work on creating a new government. The country's newspaper, HLN, reported that Senator Marleen Temmerman has told fellow negotiators to abstain from sex until the country has a new government."

210 teams from around the world converged on the outskirts of Tokyo Sunday to compete for the title of champion digger and win the coveted golden shovel prize. From the article: "'There are a lot of families and groups of friends,' said Manabu Saito, a public relations officer at the Narita Dream Dairy Farm, just east of Tokyo, where the contest took place. 'However, the most numerous are those who are "professionals" who dig for a living, such as gas company workers or those who deal with the water supply.'" The winning hole this year measuring 3.26 meters (10 ft 8 in) deep; not bad for 30 mins of shoveling