Offbeat posts

There’s probably nothing to worry about. It’s just an unexpected weather phenomenon created by man-made nuclear cooling technology mixed with bitterly cold temperatures. Still, there’s something a little disconcerting about snow falling down on you that came from the warm, moist air emerging from a nuclear power plant. Andrew Freedman from ClimateCentral says there really is nothing to fear. “Not to worry though, this snow should not contain elevated levels of radiation, and poses no danger to public health.” That’s what happened over parts of Pennsylvania yesterday. When the air from…

The legendary Porsche 911 is rich with history and beloved by passionate automotive enthusiasts throughout the world. The 911, the eventual replacement for the 356 and first  produced in 1963, surpassed its predecessor in sales, longevity, and glory. Believe it or not, the 911 is so intensely cherished by owners that Porsche has not been allowed to replace it, despite trying on a few occasions. To understand the legend of the Porsche 911, consider that the vehicle has been cited in at least 71 movies. So, what makes the 911 so special? The automobile offers lasting value, top-level engine performance,…

Put your tin foil hats on. It’s conspiracy theory time. Since 2010, Google has been tracking and releasing their bi-yearly Transparency Report. In it, they give details about the number of requests various governments make to the search giant for personal information. On the surface, this seems to be an excellent way for Google to maintain their position as a company that is fighting for the privacy of its users by informing them and giving them awareness that they should join the fight to keep the internet, our activities, and the data that we put online as private as possible. What if (stay with…

Every month we cover the UFO activity for the previous month using some excellent footage that is compiled by AnonymousFO. December’s activity definitely didn’t disappoint. One thing to note is that several of the segnebts were of bright lights that appeared during the day. If you watch the previous videos, you’ll see that there were fewer in recent months that were seen in the daytime. Night has always been the best time for “them” to come out, but that changed in December. Is there a shift happening, or is it just a fluke flurry of daytime sightings? We’ll find out next month. Until then, here are…

Everyone knows that dolphins are intelligent. They may be the most intelligent creatures in the animal kingdom and have been known to interact with boats and divers in ways that no other animals ever do. In this amazing video, a dolphin that had been hooked in tangled in fishing string lingered around divers off of Kona in Hawaii. At the 3:37 point, you’ll see that the ailing dolphins “lingers” by the humans and even interacts with one, apparently in hopes that the human could remove the line and hook. For the next several minutes, the dolphin stays with the human as he works at the line with a diving…

The popular television show “Sons of Anarchy” on FX may be one of the grittiest on air today, but can it get any grittier than the story of a boy who was abandoned by a father who overthrew the galaxy’s government, only to be defeated and even reunited in war with his son years later? Star Wars is a pretty harrowing tale if you really think about it, which is why the two were destined to meet at some point. Here’s the original emblem for the show: Now, here’s the Tatooine treatment: * * * “Sons of Anakin” via Society6.  …

Try as he may, Google’s co-founder has a difficult time trying to blend in with other folks who ride on New York City subways. His attire was inconspicuous. His hat, facial hair, and position as the least well-known of the Page-Schmidts-Brin Google trio would make it easy for him to walk the streets without being accosted by paparazzi. He forgot on thing – the mythical Google Glass specs that sat on his nose gave him away and made for a fun Tweet: Yeeeah… I just had a brief conversation with the most powerful man in the world. On the downtown 3 train. Nice guy. twitter.com/noazark/status… — Noah…

Mark this down as technological idiocy. It isn’t just that the “Make Me Asian” app (and it’s lesser-known cousins, “Make Me Indian”, “Make Me Russian”, “Make Me Frankenstein”, and “Make Me Fat”) used stereotypes to encourage racist humor. It isn’t just that the apps themselves were not that good at delivering what they promised. No, the real idiocy comes in the form of effort: why would anyone put in an ounce of effort to create something that they should have known with an absolute certainty would be removed? You can’t chalk it up to infamy. The username, “KimbereyDeiss”, does not appear to be real….

The French were not able to maintain their 75% tax on the super rich, so now they’re aiming for the super, super, super rich by going after companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Their latest scheme: an Internet tax that will affect those collecting personal data from French citizens. This concept emerged late last week in a report commissioned by President François Hollande that details the unfair ways that large American internet-based companies are able to circumvent the French tax system and still remain relevant to its citizens. According to the report, personal data is the “raw…

If there’s one word I hate using in marketing, it’s “engagement”. The term has been so overused and abused since the rise of social media that its meaning has become distorted. It’s defined in different ways and means different things to different people. Thankfully, the moves by search giants like Google and Bing as well as social giants like Facebook and Twitter have brought in at least a little uniformity to we should look for when trying to harness engagement. First and foremost, websites today must be engaging. That’s not to say that they have to be interactive; heavy websites that make people…