kkleiner writes "Willow Garage has pulled off the ultimate engineering feat: teaching a PR2 robot to fetch you a beer from the fridge. Not only can the PR2 select the correct brew from the fridge, it can deliver, and even open the beer as needed. That's right, all the humans have to do is drink and relax. Prepare yourself for some major robot-envy as you check out the PR2 delivering much-needed refreshment in the video."

An anonymous reader writes "To study how aggression, fighting, and winning change the brain, scientists set up a tournament of mice fights. They watched as the lab rodents took a break from their hum-drum existence and battled it out (however, the researchers broke the first rule of Fight Club by publishing a paper about their findings [abstract]). They found clear evidence of the 'winner effect,' in which a mouse that has just won a fight maintains elevated levels of testosterone and aggression, and is therefore more likely to win the next bout. Interestingly, the winner effect was strongest in mice that were fighting in their own cages — i.e., those that had home-field advantage."

A French company is offering people the chance to get away from it all and be bound and gagged for a day. The company will abduct you without warning, and hold you prisoner for up to 10 hours. The kidnapping packages were among many unique vacations unveiled at the Tourism Futures conference in Brisbane.

schliz writes "Online poll-based political party Senator Online is looking for senate candidates to contest the next Australian Federal Election. The party does not have any policies or an official stance, and promises to conduct online votes on major issues and act in Parliament accordingly. It has already appointed its candidate for the state of New South Wales through an online recruitment campaign in which candidates had to receive a minimum of 100 endorsements — either via its website or Facebook 'fans' — and raise a minimum of $200. This will be Senator Online's second Federal Election. When it contested in 2007, it received between 0.05 and 0.09 percent of each state's votes."

In an attempt to save its citizens from the dangers of an evil western haircuts, the Iranian Government has issued a list of acceptable male hairstyles. Ponytails, mullets, and large spikes are forbidden but looking like Elvis or Simon Cowell is ok. A neatly trimmed goatee and "modest" quantities of hair gel also made the non-evil list. From the article: "'The proposed styles are inspired by Iranians' complexion, culture and religion, and Islamic law,' said Jaleh Khodayar, who is in charge of a Modesty and Veil Festival later this month at which the guide will be promoted."

thodelu writes "Austin Sendek, a 20-year-old UC Davis student, is trying to get scientists from Boise to Beijing to use the term 'hella' to denote the unimaginably huge, seldom-cited quantity of 10 to the 27th power. From the article: 'It started as a joke, but Sendek's Facebook petition: to the Consultative Committee on Units, a subdivision of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, has drawn more than 60,000 supporters. Its chances for formal adoption by the global weights-and-measures community are hella dim, but Google was so taken with Sendek's modest proposal that it incorporated "hella" in its online calculator.'"

Are you're children becoming too pious? Are you tired of all the fundamentalist pop-up ads on their favorite websites? If so, then GodBlock is for you. From the GodBlock website : "Most deeply religious people are born into their religion, but even children raised in a secular household are vulnerable to content on the web. That's why we've produced GodBlock. GodBlock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions."

A Brooklyn judge decided to invoke some Solomon-like wisdom and ordered a divorcing couple to install a wall down the middle of their house. Pinchs and Nechama Gold were married 21 years ago, but they've lost that loving feeling, and both refuse to move from the family home. From the article: "'They've been living like there was a wall up for two years now,' said Abe Konstam, an attorney for Pinchs. 'This just helps them completely avoid each other.'" No word on when the couple will cut their 5 children in half.

the_arrow writes "According to the artist currently known as Prince, 'The internet's completely over.' At least that what he says in an interview with the British newspaper Mirror. Quoting Prince: 'The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you.'"

Joe McIntosh writes "Hibiki Kono just might be a boy genius. The 13-year-old decided he wanted to climb vertical surfaces like his hero, Spiderman. So, he used two 1,400-watt recycled vacuum cleaners and a little bit of elbow grease to make a machine that allows him to scale walls. Kono has been scaling the walls of his UK school and has told the media that he hopes his invention will help window washers eliminate clumsy ladders from their daily routine."

AndrewGOO9 writes "Pete Mander, a special effects artist from Ontario, Canada seems like he might have either had way too much time on his hands or just really enjoys Halo. Either way, this is one of those costumes that makes all of the cosplayers at a con feel like their best efforts just weren't quite up to par."

An anonymous reader writes "Ben Bitdiddle of MIT fame sends an open letter to system administrators encouraging them to stop patching their systems so they can play 'Security Vulnerability Bingo.'"

Here's an interesting article on the life and times of 24-year-old Jordan Kavoosi, who has made a business of plagiarism. His Essay Writing Company employs writers from across the country, and will deliver a paper on any subject for $23 per page. In addition, his company will get it done in 48 hours, and he guarantees at least a B grade or your money back. From the article: "'Sure it's unethical, but it's just a business,' Kavoosi explains. 'I mean, what about strip clubs or porn shops? Those are unethical, and city-approved.'"

It looks like Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings have finally started tackling the tough issues, namely whether she is team Edward or team Jacob. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota asked the nominee her thoughts on the daunting question of vampires or werewolves. To her credit Kagan dodged the question. From the article: "Ms. Kagan said she was not able to see Eclipse, but Ms. Klobuchar nonetheless continued, 'I keep wanting to ask you about the famous case of Edward versus Jacob or the vampire versus the werewolf.' 'I wish you wouldn't,' Ms. Kagan said. 'I know you can't comment on future cases,' Ms. Klobuchar said. 'So I'll leave that alone.'"

formfeed writes "Police were called to a house in Omaha where a 14-year-old made some 'dry ice bombs' (dry ice in soda bottles). Since his mom knew about it, she is now facing felony charges for child endangment and possession of a destructive device. From the article: 'Assistant Douglas County Attorney Eric Wells said the boy admitted to making the bomb and that his mother knew he was doing so. The boy was set to appear Tuesday afternoon in juvenile court, accused of possessing a destructive device.'" She's lucky they didn't find the baking soda volcano in the basement.

It appears that the popularity of the Twilight series has emboldened the vampire population to the point where they are as common on the road as raccoons. It is one such vampire crossing the road that caused a Colorado woman to crash her SUV. At least that's what she told the police. From the article: "State Troopers say the woman's husband arrived at the scene and took her home. The vampire, which was not seen by anyone else, apparently let her get away."

It turns out recording your drugged child pays pretty well. 7-year-old David DeVore became an overnight sensation when his father posted a video of his ramblings after dental surgery. To date that video has made the DeVore family around $150,000. Most of the money came from YouTube, but the family has made $50k from licensing and merchandise. From the article: "The one seemingly minor decision to make the video available all over the Internet set off a whirlwind of changes for the DeVore family. Within just four days, 'David After Dentist' received 3 million views on YouTube and the younger David quickly became an Internet celebrity. His father quit his job in residential real estate (did we mention they live in Florida?), and the family started selling T-shirts featuring cartoon drawings of their son post-dental surgery."

The judges took one look at "Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil" and knew they had the grand prize winner of the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Molly Ringle came up with the gem for the contest that honors the memory of 19th century writer Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton.

The job market may look bad here, but if you're in China, and you happen to be white, all you need is a suit and tie. An increasing number of Chinese companies are willing to pay any price to have a few fair-skinned faux employees walking around. From the article: "'Face, we say in China, is more important than life itself,' said Zhang Haihua, author of Think Like Chinese. 'Because Western countries are so developed, people think they are more well off, so people think that if a company can hire foreigners, it must have a lot of money and have very important connections overseas. So when they really want to impress someone, they may roll out a foreigner.' Or rent one."

Mexican singer Sergio Vega may have spoken too soon when he denied reports of his death. He was murdered a few hours after telling entertainment website La Oreja that rumors of his demise were a bit premature. From the article: "Mexican media said that Vega's car was shot at by unidentified men who were following the vehicle in a truck. The shots injured Vega, making him lose control of the vehicle and crash it, according to El Debate newspaper. The gunmen then shot Vega again while he lay trapped in the car wreck."