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August, 2006 Archives | Homepage
World's Largest Smoothie Created in Canada We've been waiting patiently for someone to make an enormous smoothie and it has finally happened. The Booster Juice store in Kitchener, Canada broke the world smoothie record with a massive 195 gallon smoothie.
After 7 blenders, 3.5 hours of blending and over 195 gallons of smoothie, a Booster Juice store in Kitchener, Canada broke the current record for the World's Largest Smoothie. To break this record Booster Juice had to surpass the previous record of 333 litres or 88 gallons of delicious smoothie. City firefighters were on site to help in the attempt to enter the Guinness World Records by making the world's largest smoothie. Best of all, Booster Juice raised $1,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society by selling the world's largest smoothie in 24 oz cups after the record breaking event.The firefighters may have been present because of the infamous Snapple popsicle disaster. The Snapple disaster occured last year when Snapple decided a hot July day in New York City would be a perfect time to attempt to break the record for the world's biggest popsicle. Fortunately, everything went as planned at the world's largest smoothie attempt. Posted on August 31, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Universal Music Group has announced that it will be launching a free music download service to compete with iTunes. The format will be Windows .wmv and probably won't work on an iPod. The downloads will be free, but you'll have to sit through ads and return periodically to the site in order to be allowed to keep your music. Oh, and you won't be able to share or copy the songs. A new online music company said yesterday that it would make a huge catalog of songs from the world’s largest record company, the Universal Music Group, available for consumers to download free. The company, called SpiralFrog, said its intention was to wean music fans, especially young people, away from illegal downloads and pirate music sites by offering a legitimate source, supported by advertising instead of download fees.The success of SpiralFrog will be directly correlated as to how annoying it is to use. If the ads are endless, the music expires after a week and the selection isn't good, we expect dismal failure. On the other hand, being free is a great motivator, so we'll be interested to see how SpiralFrog sets up the service. Posted on August 30, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Jessica Alba Loses a Tooth Jessica Alba discusses her love scene gone terribly wrong, in which she ended up losing a back molar and chipping a front tooth.
Jessica Alba's definitely known for being sexy, but after a run-in with co-star Dane Cook that left her toothless the actress is feeling anything but.We think sweet Jessica better get herself to a periodontist tout de suite. To have a molar be knocked out so easily could mean some serious gum problems. In any event, she can always spring for a $5,000 dental implant and be good as new. But what is the deal with Dane Cook, anyway? Because we're just not seeing the stardust here. Posted on August 29, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | OK Go Hits the Treadmills This is the video that launched a thousand new exercise plans. If you haven't yet seen the hilarious and clever early video of OK Go singing "Here It Goes Again" while dancing on treadmills.
The lead singer of OK Go, Damian Kulash, appeared on The Colbert Report last week to discuss why they originally put their videos on YouTube and how they gained such a following. Damian is funny and articulate; this band is going places. And we wouldn't be suprised if one Stephen Colbert did a cameo in a future video sometime. And -- joy! -- OK Go will be permforming the treadmill dance on August 31, 2006 at the MTV Video Music Awards. "Watch your sexyback, JT!" says the band. You can read the group's blog, which is mostly written by guitarist Andy Ross, here. Now, hit the treadmill, people! Posted on August 28, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Boot Throwing Robot Invented Scientists at Aberystwyth University have invented a robotic welly wanger, which is a robot dedicated to the task of boot throwing. icNorthWales reports that the robot has even been built with some AI abilities so that it can learn to slowly throw the boots better over time like a child would. The impressive robotic boot hurler can throw boots as far as 80 metres.
Team members Richard Shipman, who teaches artificial intelligence, Dr Andy Shaw, a researcher in space robotics, and computer technician Ian Izett applied their scientific expertise in robotics and artificial intelligence to improve its throwing accuracy - the main criteria for judging the competition.A post on Robots.net points to a photo gallery and a blog about the robot welly wanger. Another article about the robot can be found on the BBC. Apparently, the robot will have to battle 15 other similar machines in a competition later this month. Posted on August 25, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Photographer Malcolm Venville reveals the secret life of Mexican wrestlers in his upcoming book of photography, Lucha Loco. We have seen Jack Black's comic portrayal of these wrestlers in Nacho Libre but the mexican wrestlers are very real and wear dramatic and unusual costumes. You can see some of the photographs on Venville's website.
Lucha Loco is the artistic result of Venville's quest to find and capture the essence of these masked gladiator-like showmen throughout many different trips to Mexico City in 2005. Venville says, "Lucha Loco represents something that is missing from life in the western world since the disappearance of the circus and vaudeville. There is poetry in its vibrant and expressive style that is lacking from wrestling."Some of the photographs actually look even more ridiculous than Jack Black's costume. Mexican wrestling is definitely a very expressive form of entertainment. Posted on August 24, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Las Vegas No Longer Offers 24 Hour Marriage Licenses So you're partying in Vegas and feel that urge to marry that nice dancer you just met. No problem, right? It's Vegas, so you can get a wedding license 24 hours a day, right? Well no more. If you feel the need to get married at 3 am (like Britney Spears did once up on a time, pre-K-fed) you are
out of luck.
Getting married is as much a tradition in Las Vegas as slot machines and buffets. But when the urge to merge comes in the wee hours, you'll have to wait. The county government said that starting next week, its marriage license bureau will no longer be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Citing budget constraints, county officials said the graveyard shift is being scrapped. Would-be brides and grooms will be able to apply for licenses only between 8 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week.We just can't believe this. Think of the chilling effect this new law is going to have on spur of the moment, insane celebrity marriages. It's enough to make a tabloid reporter cry. Posted on August 22, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati |
Britney Spears is taking a stand and forcing K-Fed to get rid of his six -- yes, that's right, six -- sharks before the new baby is born.
Britney Spears is ruining all of K-Fed’s fun. The pop star is making her aspiring rap star hubby, Kevin Federline, get rid of his pet sharks, according to Life & Style. Spears, who is expecting her second child with Federline, apparently fears that the six Australian gray nurse sharks are a bit risky when there are two kiddies around the house.We'd comment on this report, but we're speechless at the idea that K-Fed is keeping six nurse sharks in a home which will soon have an infant and a toddler in it. This guy has got to be the absolute worst dad in Hollywood. And that's saying something. You tell him, Britney: "Read my lips, K-Fed. No More Sharks." Oh and K-Fed's career? Jumped the sharks -- all six of them -- long ago. (Photo courtesy of X17online.com.) Posted on August 21, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Snakes on a Plane Slithers Into Theaters Well, it's finally here: Snakes on a Plane is in theaters now. And, here's the real shocker: many critics actually like it. Or, at least they had a really good time at the screening, anyway. ABC's Joel Siegel gets his snake on:
The first screening was Thursday night at 10, and I was there. I think I was the only critic in the joint, and here's my one-word review: AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The parts I saw was a much better movie than I thought I was going to see. Jackson plays an FBI agent escorting a key witness in a murder trial from Hawaii to Los Angeles. How does the bad guy keep the witness from testifying? Four little words: snakes on a plane.We're just waiting until after 4pm when our therapist gets off work -- we told her to bring extra Valium in case our severe fear of flying and fear of snakes phobias inconveniently kick in mid-movie. Posted on August 18, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Conan O'Brien has been
selected
as host of the the Emmys, which will air on NBC, Sunday, August 27 at 8 pm Eastern time.
The announcement was made jointly today by Dick Askin, Chairman and CEO, Television Academy and Kevin Reilly, President, NBC Entertainment. "Conan was a natural choice," said Reilly. "His comedic talent and hosting expertise coupled with his charm and spontaneity will make for a great show."We like Conan -- we know he'll do a great job. Posted on August 17, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | James Bond and the Haunted Plane The set of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, has been plagued with accidents and disasters -- from the star's injuries to an entire set of Venice going up in flames, this is clearly a creepy set to work on. The latest weirdness involves a haunted plane. Several crew members of the latest "James Bond" movie "Casino Royale" have refused to go inside a stunt jumbo jet because they claim it is haunted. According to crew members working on the set, the spirit of a passenger who died of a heart attack on board the 30-year-old 747 airplane, is protecting the air craft.So what's next? Poltergeists? Ghosts? We can't even imagine how the film is going to turn out. Huge bomb? Giant success? It's anyone's guess at this point. Posted on August 16, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Kate Hudson Headed For Divorce Kate Hudson and husband Chris Robinson are headed for divorce court, her rep has confirmed.
Actress Kate Hudson and her husband, Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, are splitting, PEOPLE has learned exclusively. The You, Me and Dupree star's rep, Brad Cafarelli, confirms that the couple are separating after nearly six years of marriage.This explains all those darling pics taken at Malibu of Kate and her darling baby Ryder frolicking in the sand, while her scruffy hubby was nowhere to be found. We have to admit, we never understood that pairing to begin with. But we loved Kate in You, Me and Dupree which is really a hilarious film, by the way. (Photo courtesy of X17online.com.) Posted on August 14, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Paris Hilton's Kinkajou Frolic Turns Into Disaster
Paris Hilton is not having a good week. She was bitten by her pet kinkajou and had to head to the emergency room for treatment.
Paris Hilton got no love this week from her pet kinkajou Baby Luv - in fact, the racoon-like animal bit her. The heiress was not badly hurt but did visit a hospital emergency room to receive a tetanus shot, her publicist, Elliot Mintz, told The Associated Press on Friday."Frolicking with her kinkajou?" Well, ok then. We know how dangerous that can be. Posted on August 12, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Suri Sighting...Sort Of
X17 has managed to get the actual first photos of Ok, they look like blobs in a window to us. We don't see a baby anywhere. But that might be Katie looking longingly out of her In related news, Tom and Katie have invited David and Victoria Beckham over to see Suri. The excited yet puzzled Brits were surprised to recieve a long list of do's and don'ts for visiting the baby: no baby talk, no touching and no photos. It just gets weirder and weirder with the TomKat. We hope Victoria totally forgets the rules and coos at the baby, then bursts into a Spice Girls hit, like say "Wannabe." Really loud, with choreography. Then, while everyone is stunned, David can fend off Tom and his howls of outrage while Victoria gives poor baby Suri a cuddle. Yes, they'd be banned from the Scientology Center for life, but is that really such a bad thing? Posted on August 10, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Gwyneth's Secret Vice
Gwyneth Paltrow reveals her secret vice: road rage.
Gwyneth Paltrow says she’s kicked her smoking habit, but there's one vice she just can't let go: road rage. "I curse when I drive," the Shakespeare in Love star tells the September issue of Harper's Bazaar. "I'm like a horribly aggressive New York driver. I'm always yelling '[Bleep] you!' at truck drivers and honking my horn!"Maybe she's just angry because of the nicotine withdrawal. Posted on August 9, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | AOL Removes Customers' Search Information From Web The reverberations of AOL's giant info dump of its customers' search habits are still being felt on the Internet. AOL finally apologized for the information release and said that they "screwed up." They got that part right. Internet giant AOL has apologised after releasing the search requests of hundreds of thousands of its customers. User names were not attached to the data, but it is feared that many of the queries contained personally identifiable information.It's unconscionable that AOL 1) released its customers' search data; then 2) waited several days to do something about it. All the information has already been copied and people are busily linking information with real names right now, no doubt mostly for nefarious purposes. Identity theft certainly comes to mind. Posted on August 8, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Hackers Crack the RFID Code Hackers have managed to hack into the RFID chips that the U.S. government is putting into passports. The hackers' goal was to show the incredible security vulnerability of the emerging -- and very popular -- technology that embeds a computer chip wrapped with tiny radio antennae into everything from food products to passports. High-tech passports touted as advances in national security can be spied on remotely and their identifying radio signals cloned, computers hackers were shown at a conference. Radio frequency identification technology, referred to as RFID, used in cash cards and passports, can be copied, blocked or imitated, said Melanie Rieback, a privacy researcher at Vrije University in the Netherlands. Rieback demonstrated a device she and colleagues at Vrije built to hijack the RFID signals that manufacturers have touted as unreadable by anything other than proprietary scanners. "I spend most of my time making the RFID industry's life miserable," the doctorate student told AFP. "I am not anti-RFID. It has the potential to make people's lives easier, but it needs to be used responsibly."We're not big fans of the current RFID technology. Kudos to Rieback for continuing to point out the serious security flaws of this technology. Posted on August 7, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | He Was a Sk8er Bot Here is a robot that would make Avril proud. Plen is a Japanese robot that skateboards. You can see a video of Plen in action here. Coolest Gadgets also has an article and video of Plen rollerskating.
The bipedal robot, for so long it was the holy grail of roboticists. Honda most famously produced some of the first walking robots with the "P" series, which has evolved into Asimo. Most of the bipedal robots today employ the zero moment point (ZMP) algorithm. This gives them kind of a stiff-in-the-knees walk and a permanent semi-crouch. Recently this has been applied to robots who, if you look closely, are really nothing more than a bunch of servos bolted together. Another entry into this category is "PLEN" from the Japanese company Akazawa.Plen looks like he has quite a few moves. Some bloggers are even admitting that Plen can skate better than they can. (via Geekologie) Posted on August 6, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Just What We've Always Wanted: A Square Watermelon At last, what we've all be waiting for: a square watermelon. Yes, that's right. Square. Apparently, they're pretty easy to grow, too. You don't even have to use any genetic engineering, either. Just put the watermelon plant in a square box, and nature does the rest.
Tesco has developed a new square version which can be sliced like a loaf of bread. The supermarket says many people are put off the refreshing and healthy fruit because it rolls around in the fridge, or it is difficult to slice and eat. Now, they have adopted growing techniques, which originated in Japan, to offer the square versions.That's over $100 U.S. For a watermelon. Maybe we'll get one for Christmas. Posted on August 4, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | No Male Waiters For Angelina Jolie
The New York Post reports
that Angelina Jolie insists on having only female waiters serve her.
Angelina Jolie loves to eat out - as long as a woman is serving her. When Jolie and two pals breezed into the Dakota restaurant at the Hollywood Roosevelt the other night, she oddly requested "a female server only" to bring her halibut and salad, our spy says. "The theory is she feels guys gawk at her too much, and this is one way of avoiding that." Jolie's rep didn't respond. A few days earlier, Brad Pitt strolled into Gearys Beverly Hills and bought his and hers Rolex watches.We especially love the apparent non sequiter at the end about Brad Pitt buying his and hers Rolex watches. Was the watch-buying spree somehow related to the halibut-eating restaurant visit? Was it a pre-emptive reward for not allowing too many male waiters to ogle Angelina? Or was Brad just feeling the need for a new watch? In any event, he has excellent taste in timepieces. Posted on August 2, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | Jessica Alba: Scientifically Ahead of Her Time
Scientists say that invisibility is around the corner. And it's all due to The Invisible Woman.
It's unlikely to occur by swallowing a pill or donning a special cloak, but invisibility could be possible in the not too distant future, according to research published on Monday. Harry Potter accomplished it with his magic cloak. H.G. Wells' Invisible Man swallowed a substance that made him transparent. But Dr Ulf Leonhardt, a theoretical physicist at St Andrews University in Scotland, believes the most plausible example is the Invisible Woman, one of the Marvel Comics superheroes in the "Fantastic Four."See? We knew Jessica Alba got it right in The Fantastic Four. And it's now been proven by scientists. Posted on August 1, 2006 Permalink | Digg this | Blogs linking to this post: Google | Technorati | |
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