The Old New Thing

Anybody remember Blade Squad or MV24?

June 16, 2004 Jun 16, 2004 06/16/04

Raymond Chen

It's often fun to go back and see the kooky ideas for television shows that floated around years ago. Here are some from 1997: Plenty more on the linked web site. What's really scary is that a lot of these kooky ideas turned into actual television programs...

Augusto Pinochet's beverage preferences are a matter of national security

June 15, 2004 Jun 15, 2004 06/15/04

Raymond Chen

It appears that Augusto Pinochet's beverage preferences are a matter of national security. The web site offers the original and redacted versions of the same document, so you can see what sorts of information the U.S. government considers to be worthy of redaction. On a related redactorial note, researchers demonstrated last month ...

Norway works to lengthen its lead

June 14, 2004 Jun 14, 2004 06/14/04

Raymond Chen

Norway locks its grip on "Best place to live" status: As I pointed out last month, this then leads to... Shoulda studied Norwegian like I had planned to do originally before I got sidetracked by Swedish...

Taiwan law requires writing to go left-to-right instead of top-to-bottom

June 11, 2004 Jun 11, 2004 06/11/04

Raymond Chen

The BBC reports that official documents in Taiwan must now be written left-to-right (Western style) instead of the traditional top-to-bottom. I grew up with Chinese-language newspapers that ran their stories vertically and numbered their pages from right to left, in the traditional manner. Books and newspapers which run left-to-...

Did you know that Baltimore has a Rumor Control Center?

June 10, 2004 Jun 10, 2004 06/10/04

Raymond Chen

A little-known department in the city of Baltimore is the Rumor Control Center, whose purpose is to squash rumors before they get out of hand. Scott Simon talked with supervisor Tom Saunders on cash rewards for blue-eyed cicadas and other rumors he's had to handle in the past...

Calculate the speed of light by microwaving marshmallows

June 9, 2004 Jun 9, 2004 06/9/04

Raymond Chen

A simple experiment, and you can eat the results! Via The Annals of Improbable Research...

Let there be a grand clubhouse feast!

June 8, 2004 Jun 8, 2004 06/8/04

Raymond Chen

Kenny Mayne is one of the regular anchors for ESPN SportsCenter and for some reason I find this particular home run call hilarious: I am king of the diamond! Let there be a grand clubhouse feast! [WAV] Bring me the finest meats and cheeses throughout the land! — From The SportsCenter Altar multimedia download center. Here...

The suburbs make you fat, more researchers conclude

June 7, 2004 Jun 7, 2004 06/7/04

Raymond Chen

Two legs good - four wheels bad. (With apologies to George Orwell.) Researchers link increase car use with obesity. Each hour spent in a car was associated with a 6 percent increase in the likelihood of obesity and each half-mile walked per day reduced those odds by nearly 5 percent, the researchers found. A study last ...

Need to add 1.5kg and 350g?

June 3, 2004 Jun 3, 2004 06/3/04

Raymond Chen

Need to add 1.5kg and 350g? Don't take any chances. Go to a Certified Metrication Specialist...

Letter carriers rebel

June 2, 2004 Jun 2, 2004 06/2/04

Raymond Chen

Letter carriers in both Sweden and Scotland have taken to refusing to deliver political advertisements from parties they personally find offensive. This isn't quite the stunning synchronicity as it may appear at first glance: Europe is gearing up for a continent-wide election...