SKIRMISHER

Law enforcement officials say that sting operations like these are an extremely effective means of lowering crime rates and stopping the criminally minded before they commit worse offenses. Opponents call it entrapment.
Shouldn’t it be called inducement?

New drug can reverse liver damage; suddenly it’s harder to drink yourself to death.

China’s recent white paper reveals it’s hell bent on using more coal, which would have been dire if not for the cute smileys peppering the document.

North America’s largest solar power plant, made by SunPower, is now running.

How to backup your Google account.

Doorknobs [...]

But who can be sure?

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Say you’ve captured a Nazi — which is still totally possible because Nazis live a thousand years, you know — and the bugger suddenly bites a cyanide pill. Now you can keep him alive — to be killed at your most convenient time — with the recently discovered fast-acting cyanide antidote sulfanagen.
Current cyanide antidotes work [...]

Did you know that there’s actually a book that contains everything about spam? Yes, there is. And how better to sell it than using its partner — the toast. 220 pieces of toast, to be exact, were used to create the video ad. Click above to see how the ad was made, now lovingly called [...]

Ignorance kills Chinese woman, but keeps billions of others still living in bliss.

“He took the Bible and he said, ‘I’m going to do this because I can. I’m going to do something that your stupid, little minds aren’t going to be able to comprehend and he took the Bible and started ripping out pages.”

Father of [...]

Chinese scientist Zhang Xiachang proudly shows his “paper-like battery” — 0.5 millimeter thick and can be rolled like paper — which he’s bringing to the 2007 International Forum on New Material Research and Industry Development.

Meanwhile, in Asia, girls have all the fun.

Parasitic fungi of the genus Cordyceps, to survive, behave in a creepy way reminiscent of hardcore science fiction stuff. In this video, which is actually a segment from BBC’s hugely popular TV series Planet Earth, “Jungle” episode, shows how Cordyceps infect insects like ants, brainwash them to do things that would increase the fungi’s chances [...]

Prank or not, the now-famous Nora the frisky piano-playing feline you see negotiating some tunes in the video above seems to have landed a record deal.

This robotic foosball table takes up so much space but is supposedly working like a charm — especially if no one ever wants to play with you in the first place.
“…servos coupled with a micro-controller operate the arms of the table, while a camera above the action monitors the game, including the location of the [...]

Video games make your brain bleed. Or something hilarious like that.

IBM’s five predictions for the future.

Will Google-powered mobile phones begin to appear in February?

GoldVish Luxury mobile phones are now available in Russia at a very reasoable price of only 1 millio euros! Very cheap! But a discount if you toss in a kidney or two.

Panasonic’s [...]

It turns out that Jatech, the “original designers and inventors” of the Disappearing Car Door technology, is pretty serious about dishing their fun stuff to the car-driving masses as its new website is actively soliciting customers. Of course, we’re not exactly sure if this whole thing’s some clever CGI prank or real, but either you [...]

Nanosolar, a very young tech company, has successfully created a solar coating (PowerSheet) that is the most cost-efficient solar energy source to date, even beating coal in terms of per watt production cost.
These coatings are as thin as a layer of paint and can transfer sunlight to power at amazing efficiency. Although the underlying technology [...]

Sleeveface is the art of “one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of the body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion.”

A very young male playfully licking and biting a mature older female. Our sensibilities are thoroughly offended!

Earthrace: around the world in a boat fueled by human fat.

The woman named “Mary Christmas” can’t stop hating her parents.

Hindu priest commits suicide with the promise of return within 72 hours. The police make sure priest’s return would be “spectacular, like Bollywood” by burning his body to ashes. Hey, Hollywood, are you listening?

77-year-old Robert Schoof [...]