Ryuta Kawashima, the researcher behind Nintendo’s Brain Age series of games for the DS portable system, would rather be working than enjoying $11 million in royalties he could have earned from his creations.

Instead, he used the proceeds to help fund $6.5 million in construction projects on Tohoku’s campus.”My hobby is work,” he said.

“Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it.”

Game researcher ducks millions in royalties - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

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Tags: BrainAge, Nintendo DS, Charity

Having a tornado demolish her home was bad enough. But when Ann Beam received a $2,000 cable bill a few weeks later, she was floored. “I just couldn’t believe it,” Beam said. “I was like, ‘What are they thinking?’”

Time Warner Cable billed a number of Wheatland residents for equipment destroyed in the Jan. 7 twister that struck the southeast corner of the state. Beam’s bill covered five cable boxes and five remote controls.

She immediately called the cable company, but a man who identified himself as a manager said there was nothing the company could do.

Tornado victim billed for cable devices - Yahoo! News

I am not sure what’s odder in this story.  That the person in question had 5 cable boxes or that they are $400 dollars each.

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Tags: WhenBureaucracyAttacks, WTF?, TimeWarner

Flying well-equipped for business and pleasure gets a bit more complicated on Jan. 1, as the U.S. Transportation Department bars travelers from packing loose lithium batteries in checked luggage.

The move is designed to help minimize the risk that such batteries could overheat and catch fire on board, the agency’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a statement on Friday.

The new rules say travelers can bring a laptop computer, digital camera, cellphone and other equipment on board or in checked luggage if their lithium batteries are installed in the items.

And flyers can bring spare batteries in carry-on luggage if they’re stored in plastic bags or if they’re in the original retail packaging. But travelers can bring only as many as two such spare batteries, and each must be packed separately.

Travelers Advisory: U.S. limits lithium batteries on flights - MarketWatch

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Tags: Airlines, Security, Hysteria, Travel

Still waiting on your SkyCar? Why not get a personal tank to pass the time? Amazon has listed, the JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank, or The Donk for short. For $19,999 you can drive your own tank into battle.

• Carries cargo or a crew of up to five internally or on the roof.
• Piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch.
• 6hp Tecumseh gasoline engine, top speed 40 mph.
• Includes head/tail and turn signal lights, trim and underbody lighting.
• 400 watt premium sound with PA system, plush interior, and external camera.

For a good laugh, try reading the reviews of this thing.

I’ll admit it. Shopping for a personal tank can be a bit daunting. Many times in the past I’ve purchased overpriced, so-called “battle tanks”, then driven them into battle only to be wrecked in ten minutes by the first blow off of some insurgents home-made morter.

Daniel Edwards is preparing to unleash his latest sculpture in a Brooklyn art museum in April. The sculpture in question is a life-size statue of Britney Spears

“…naked and pregnant, crouching face-down on a bare-toothed bear rug as the baby’s head appears on the opposite end.”

There has been considerable criticism of Edwards’ odd pro-life sculpture. And his work is now the subject of a podcast, Send2Press.

MacDailyNews is reporting that Levi Strauss is debuting their iPod compatible jeans. Have iPod accessories gone to far?

Design features include:
• Easy Pocket Storage — An iPod docking cradle is built into the jeans and is “invisibly” housed within a side pocket. The Levi’s design team took special care to ensure the iPod unit remains neatly and securely stored in the jean, while the iPod “bump” in the pocket is virtually eliminated. The cradle is equipped with sophisticated technology housed in a red conductive ribbon that allows users to quickly and easily remove their iPod from the pocket to view its screen while staying connected. The jean is machine washable once the iPod is removed.
• “Hip” Controls — A special joystick remote control is externally designed into the jeans’ watch pocket to enable operation of the iPod. Four-way controls allow the wearer to easily play/pause, track forward, track back and adjust the volume control without ever removing the iPod from the pocket.
• Handy Wire Retractor — A handy retractable headphone unit has been built directly into the jean to help prevent tangles and efficiently manage the iPod earphone wires.

Before you upgrade your jeans however, jump over and update your iTunes to 6.02 and the iPod (with video) to 1.1.

New features in iTunes.

• MiniStore New in iTunes 6.

  Discover new music as you enjoy your collection or import new CDs with MiniStore — right from your iTunes library.

• Sync Home Movies New in iTunes 6.

  Create iPod-compatible versions of your own movies using iTunes.

• AirTunes Enhancement New in iTunes 6.

  Simultaneously stream the same song wirelessly to up to three home stereos or powered speakers — using AirPort Express with AirTunes.

Virgin Airlines is to offer frequent-flyer “Space Miles” that passengers can put towards flights in space with the company’s soon-to-be-launched Virgin Galactic, boss Richard Branson revealed.

The British tycoon, in Hong Kong to promote new Virgin flights to the city, said customers who collected two million points would be entitled to be among the first commercial astronauts when his space plan takes off in two years.

“There are already 30 people in the world who have collected enough air miles to fly into space,” Branson said Tuesday.

Read more…

Scientists in Singapore are testing a new technology that will transfer the sensation of touch over the Internet. Currently it is limited to chickens. Why hug a chicken over the Internet? So you don’t get the bird flu, of course.

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University told The Straits Times on Monday that a “wireless jacket for chickens or other pets can be controlled with a computer and gives the animal the feeling of being touched by its owner”.

Researchers hope this will give parents the ability to hug and touch their children while away on business. Of course we all know what this will be really used for.

According to former Canadian Defense Minister Paul Hellyer, UFOs are real, the U.S. is trying to start a intergalactic war, and Canada should begin “relations” with these “ETs”. This guy is crazy, as if the U.S. would try to start any wars. Ridiculous.

On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: “UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head.”

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, “I’m so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something.”

Either this guy is senile, he watched too much X-Files, or something is in the water up north. Mr. Hellyer suggests that Canada start a decade of contact. Thus preparing the general public for eventual communication with the aliens.

The proposed Decade of Contact is “a 10-year process of formal, funded public education, scientific research, educational curricula development and implementation, strategic planning, community activity, and public outreach concerning our terrestrial society’s full cultural, political, social, legal, and governmental communication and public interest diplomacy with advanced, ethical Off-Planet cultures now visiting Earth.�

Haven’t we learned anything from V? Any visiting aliens are going to be giant lizards in human disguises that will use us for food.

By removing a gene, known as stathmin, mice reportedly become “daredevils.” This from what new research meant to help scientist understand the human conditions such as anxiety or autism shows.

The mutated (their word) mice show less response against natural and learned fears. And will even venture out into open areas. Apparently something mice are normally reserved to do.

The research shows that the mutated mice also have the same cognitive ability as their non-mutated brethren. And can learn and remember just as quickly as normal mice.

Whether science will eventually create a mouse that can “save the day” is still in question.