Japanese scientists build a speech-jamming gun
The idea is simple. Psychologists have known for some years that it is almost impossible to speak when your words are replayed to you with a delay of a fraction of a second. Kurihara and Tsukada have simply built a handheld device consisting of a microphone and a speaker that does just that: it records a persons voice and replays it to them with a delay of about 0.2 seconds. The microphone and speaker are directional so the device can be aimed at a speaker from a distance, like a gun.
Guerrilla Tree Sculptor Takes Over Yorkshire Town
The mystery artist responsible for these intricate tree carvings is local artist Tommy Graggs. Luckily for him, the locals rather liked the work and are hoping for more! Currently three sculptures have been completed--a dragon, a kingfisher and a ghostly figure--standing between 10 and 20 feet high.
via Guerrilla Tree Sculptor Takes Over UK Town : TreeHugger.
Placement Service a Boon for People with Aspergers
Many people with Aspergers syndrome have difficulties in the job market and workplace, but they also have special abilities that many employers crave. A Danish company has found a way to bring the two together and is exporting its successful job-placement concept to other countries.
MI5 spied on Charlie Chaplin after FBI asked for help to banish him from US | UK news | guardian.co.uk
"Chaplin has given funds to communist front organisations … He has been involved in paternity and abortion cases," an MI5 liaison officer in Washington warned in October 1952.MI5 noted that a decade earlier Chaplin had told the Los Angeles branch of the National Council of American Soviet Friendship: "There is a great deal of good in communism. We can use the good and segregate the bad."
The videogame book Martin Amis doesn’t want to talk about
“Anything a writer disowns is of interest,” wrote Leith, “particularly if it’s a frivolous thing and particularly if, like Amis, you take seriousness seriously.” He’s got a point; any book so callously orphaned by its own creator has to be worth looking into. This is especially true if the book in question happens to be a guide to early 1980s arcade games.
via The Millions : The Arcades Project: Martin Amis’ Guide to Classic Video Games.