If you try to evict Chinese farmer Yang Youde you better be ready for a lot of attitude and his homemade cannon. Land developers have attempted to confiscate his farm twice, only to be met with homemade rocket blasts. From the article: "'I shot only over their heads to frighten them,' the China Daily quoted him saying of his attacks on demolition workers sent to move him off his land. 'I didn't want to cause any injuries.' The rockets can travel over 100 meters, and exploded with a deafening bang, the official paper added. It did not say if anyone had been injured."

An anonymous reader writes "It was eight years ago that Ghyslain Raza slashed his way into our hearts with his Star Wars Kid video. Sadly, Raza suffered from severe bullying and abuse for his video and eventually ended up in a psychiatric ward for children. However, his video was seen 1 billion times and multiple thousands of geeks came immediately to his defense. While those must have been the worst years of his life, things are now looking up."

When considering a tour of the Mississippi River, most people think of paddle boats or tubes, but Mike Mott wants you to think of Segways. Mott is working with Iowa officials and the city of Davenport to set up Segway tours along the Mississippi River recreational trail. "Mott said his tours will begin in the parking lot of the Union Station Visitors Center at 102 S. Harrison St. After a 20-minute safety orientation, the tours will proceed west to Credit Island, then back to the visitors center and east to the Davenport-Bettendorf border and back again. The tours will take about two hours and will include information about local history and sites of interest, Mott said."

Chef Yukako Ichikawa will offer a 30% discount to patrons who eat all the food they have ordered, and will kindly ask those who don't clean their plates to not come back. "Finishing your meal requires that everything is eaten except lemon slices, gari (sushi ginger), and wasabi," says the menu. "Please also note that vegetables and salad on the side are NOT decorations; they are part of the meal too."

Brian McCrary just bought a website to complain about a $90 speeding ticket he received from the Bluff City PD — the Bluff City Police Department site. The department let its domain expire and McCrary was quick to pick it up. From the article: "Brian McCrary found the perfect venue to gripe about a $90 speeding ticket when he went to the Bluff City Police Department's website, saw that its domain name was about to expire, and bought it right out from under the city's nose. Now that McCrary is the proud owner of the site, bluffcitypd.com, the Gray, Tenn., computer network designer has been using it to post links about speed cameras — like the one on US Highway 11E that caught him — and how people don't like them."

Inventor Jiro Takashima had a simple dream. He wanted to create the world's most perfect hemorrhoid massager. He realized his dream with the invention of the Pro-State massager. It wasn't long however until it became obvious that people were using his design for pleasure instead of legitimate medical purposes. He and his company, High Island Health, are now suing a British company known as Pleasure2Me and others claiming infringement of his patent of a plastic massager designed to massage a man's prostate without the use of electrical power. From the article: "'Our business took a major detour when men started using our prostate massager for recreational purposes,' said Amy Sung, executive director of High Island Health, a Houston company named for a translation of her inventor father Jiro Takashima's Japanese name."

Instead of congratulating 24-year-old Washingtonian Gavin Stanger on the remarkable amount of things he could hide in his rectum, Wenatchee Police have arrested and charged him with introduction of contraband into a jail. Stanger smuggled a cigarette lighter, cigarette rolling papers, a golf-ball-size baggie of tobacco, a bottle of tattoo ink, eight tattoo needles, a one-inch-long smoking pipe, and a small baggie of suspected marijuana into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center, a feat that left officials gaping. "We were all wondering, 'How do you put all that up there?'" Sgt. John Kruse said. "The tobacco was pretty impressive; it was a good ounce."

The management of Wheat Ridge, Colorado's Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery wants to change its image by hosting special events including art exhibits and concerts. The 103-year-old burial ground hopes that the events will change perceptions of their cemetery as "something more than a spot for solemn rituals." From the article: "The push to make the cemetery feel more like an ordinary part of the community began a few years ago and is gaining momentum. Crown Hill now urges people to tour the grounds and examine works by the Mexican artist and architect Dionicio Rodriguez — his only pieces in the state are scattered throughout the grounds."

__roo writes "According to North Korea's official news agency, a drink produced by North Korea's Moranbong Carbonated Fruit Juice Joint Venture Company can cure aging and all disease. 'It, with effects of both preventive and curative treatment, helps improve mental and retentive faculties by multiplying brain cells. It also protects skin from wrinkles and black spots and prevents such geriatric diseases as cerebral hemorrhage, myocardium and brain infarction by removing acid effete matters in time.' It also has no side-effects." Last month North Korea announced its fusion breakthrough, and now it has a super drink. One can only imagine what wonders may come in July — perhaps self-buttering toast.

CheshireCatCO writes "Pranksters at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., turned Goodsell Observatory on campus into R2D2 overnight Wednesday. In the morning, the observatory played droid sounds and moved its 'head' back and forth, a la R2."

cremeglace writes "The journal Science is sponsoring the 3rd-annual 'Dance Your Ph.D.' contest. Grad students in science-related fields create a video of their dissertation, interpreted in dance form, and compete for $1,000 and a screening at a film festival in New York. 'Science-related field' is broadly defined and includes computer science and engineering. Some funny videos from past years of the contest are up at the contest website, and an official announcement is in the print edition of this week's Science."

An anonymous reader writes "Parrots intoxicated by a mystery substance are dropping out of the sky near Darwin, Australia. From the article: 'It seems that the birds get intoxicated by something they have eaten and it renders them unable to fly and function ... they can get very sick as a result.' Around eight to ten birds a day have been brought to the hospital after falling to the ground in backyards and along roadsides. A total of 40 lorikeets are now receiving treatment."

Kilrah_il writes "An Israeli company developed a gadget that measures your blood pressure and tells you when you are stressed and need to take a break from your computer. 'The user grasps two sensors shaped like computer mouses to measure the electric activity of the heart in minute detail. Software then combines the measurements with prerecorded personal details such as age and sex to calculate various indicators for stress and mood.' Looks like a must-have accessory for Slashdotters everywhere."

An anonymous reader writes "The sci-fi movie Splice seems to have scared the Ohio's State Senator Steve Buehrer. The Ohio Senate has passed Sen. Buehrer's bill banning 'the creation, transportation, or receipt of a human-animal hybrid, the transfer of a nonhuman embryo into a human womb, and the transfer of a human embryo into a nonhuman womb.' So much for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

An anonymous reader writes "Chemists with the US military have developed a set of ultra-strength cleaners to be used in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The formulas are reportedly tough enough to get rid of nerve gas, mustard gas, radioactive isotopes, and anthrax. But they are also non-toxic, based on ingredients found in foods, cosmetics, and other consumer products."

Worried that it is turning out a generation of sissies, a Chinese elementary school has started a program designed to teach boys to be more masculine. Wang Jianhua, who has been teaching at the school for 14 years, says the boys are getting "more and more girly. During class breaks their favorite game is elastic band skipping, which is a typical girl's game. And the boys are very fragile. If we just scold them a bit they will cry out loudly."

A survey by Entertainment Weekly has named Homer Simpson the greatest character created for television or film in the past 20 years. Everyone's favorite beer-swilling, donut-eating dad beat out Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the top spot. From the article: "'People can relate to Homer because we're all secretly propelled by desires we can't admit to,' Groening was quoted as telling Entertainment Weekly. 'Homer is launching himself head-first into every single impulsive thought that occurs to him. His love of whatever ... is a joy to witness.'"

krou writes "Finnish police are involved in the investigation of up to 400 cases of theft from virtual world Habbo Hotel, with some users reporting the loss of up to €1000 of virtual furniture and other items. Users were targeted using a phishing scam that used fake webpages to capture usernames and passwords. There is no mention as to whether or not the thieves made off with the bath towels, gowns, shampoo bottles, and soaps."

ElectricSteve writes "Most of the world's beer has between 4% and 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). The strength of beer achieved by traditional fermentation brewing methods has limits, but a well-crafted beer that is repeatedly 'freeze distilled' can achieve exquisite qualities and much higher alcohol concentrations. An escalation in the use of this relatively new methodology over the last 12 months has seen man's favorite beverage suddenly move into the 40+% ABV realm of spirits such as gin, rum, brandy, whiskey, and vodka, creating a new category of extreme beer. The world's strongest beer was 27% ABV, but amidst an informal contest to claim the title of the world's strongest beer, the top beer has jumped in strength dramatically. This week Gizmag spoke to the brewers at the center of the escalating competition. New contestants are gathering, and the race is now on to break 50% alcohol by volume."

sciencehabit writes "Science answers the question: What happens when you put a snail on speed? From the article: 'The results suggest that meth improves memory, something that has been previously observed in creatures with large, complex brains like rats and humans. But since the snails store their memories in a simple, three-neuron network, the team hopes that studying the meth effect in these gastropods will help pinpoint how the drug's memory magnification powers work.'"