I’d say this is a good reason to get arrested

From WRAL:

“Raleigh, N.C. — Raleigh police arrested a North Carolina State University student last week who was accused of creating a “monster” out of construction barrels and placing it on the side of the road.”

And of course, here’s the awesome monster he created out of those orange barrels.  I really want one..

Raleigh Road Monster

I came across this piece of [old] news at CIO.   Apparently IBM is working on a new super computer code-named “Watson”.   They’re trying to take Artificial Intelligence to the next level with this machine, and think it’ll be capable of competing with humans on game shows like Jeopardy.

“Watson, in its final stages of development, is a question answering system that has been in development for nearly two years. Underneath Watson’s hood, natural language processing and other technologies analyze meanings behind words. This gives Watson the ability to identify relevant and irrelevant content, interpret ambiguous expression and puns, decompose questions into sub-questions, and synthesize information to form an answer, IBM says. Watson considers massive volumes and varieties of natural language, then quickly analyzes and scores supporting or refuting evidence—in a matter of seconds.”

With Wolfram Aplha out now and Google Squared in the works, it seems like there’s actually quite a bit of work going on with AI-ish programs lately.     I’m looking forward to hearing more about AI development.

Read more at IBM Supercomputer to Compete on Jeopardy.

I stumbled across this site a little while ago.    After you enter in a few personal details about yourself like age, height, weight, and country, it will generate a custom barcode for you showing you your worth.

Here’s my barcode:

I'm worth $9.40. What're you worth?

Check out Barcode Yourself if you want to generate your own barcode and see how much you’d be worth.

This picture reminded me of that old flash Soviet / Communist Mario animation.    Good times.

via 5604-069a-450.jpeg (JPEG Image, 406×600 pixels).

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an ostrich or an elephant fight.    Seeing the two fight each other is a good start though!

via Ostrich vs. elephant | Best Funny Animated Gifs Updated Daily – Gif Bin.

Anyone see this in the news?     This guy in New Orleans comes up to a guy in his yard gardening, and starts yelling in Spanish.    He ends up biting the guy’s arm and eating the flesh in front of him while the neighbor dresses the bite wound.

It sounds like he did this all pretty calmly before wandering to a parking lot a few blocks down, and he was even treated for a finger injury at the hospital earlier in the day.

Sound like the beginning of a zombie outbreak to anyone?    It’s most likely not anything to worry about, but hey.   Always be prepared, right?     Start stocking up!

Here’s the full story:

A Metairie resident is recovering after a stranger bit a chunk of flesh out of his arm, and swallowed it, Saturday afternoon.

Joseph Lancellotti, 67, told authorities he did not know the suspect, later identified as Mario Vargas, 48, or why he was attacked in his front yard.

Lancellotti was gardening at his home in the 4400 block of Kawanee Avenue about 2 p.m. when he noticed a man walking toward his house, shouting angrily, the report said. Lancellotti said he couldn’t understand the man because he was yelling in Spanish. But when the man got within two feet, he slugged Lancellotti in the head, the report said.

Lancellotti said he tried to defend himself with a garden rake. As the men struggled over the rake, the stranger bent over and bit Lancellotti on his right forearm, the report said. Lancellotti’s flesh ripped away as he fell to the ground. The man then got on top of Lancellotti and began choking him, the report said.

It was then that neighbor Chantal Lorio, a podiatrist and director of the Wound Center at East Jefferson General Hospital, came out to check on Lancellotti. Lorio said Monday that she first thought Lancellotti was having a heart attack and the other man was trying to help him.

The stranger was still gripping Lancellotti as Lorio noticed her neighbor was lying in a pool of blood. She didn’t learn what happened until she began dressing the wound — with the stranger still clutching her neighbor’s shirt.

“He said, ‘He bit my arm, chewed the flesh and swallowed it in front of me,’ ” Lorio recalled. She said the bite measured almost 3 by 1 1/2 inches, and was less than 1/4-inch deep.

The pair tried to calm the stranger, who never made any attempt to run away. He eventually let go of Lancellotti and walked two blocks to a parking lot, where he hovered near an empty police car, the report said. The suspect was still standing there when deputies arrived and took him into custody.

Vargas, of 724 Camp St., New Orleans, was booked with second-degree battery. He was being held Monday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Lancellotti’s wife, Bonnie, 60, said Monday that her husband was recovering from the bite, physically and mentally. She said his sense of safety in his neighborhood has been shaken.

With all the bacteria involved, Lorio said a bite from a human is worse than an animal bite.

Bonnie Lancellotti also has concerns about the suspect, who apparently had been treated at East Jefferson General Hospital earlier in the day for a finger injury. Vargas was released 45 minutes before the attack, according to the incident report.

Bonnie Lancellotti wondered whether hospital staff noticed anything amiss while treating Vargas. “This person’s clearly lost his sense,” she said. “I mean, what else can you say, eating people’s skin?”

Keith Darcey, spokesman for the hospital, said, “We cannot comment on any individual patient because of privacy laws. But as a matter of general hospital policy, the emergency department has behavioral health nurses available to help diagnose patients who might require mental health assistance.”

Read the article at nola.com [via ZombiesAreComing]

We can’t be having a zombie outbreak already.   We don’t even have ZIRP online yet =[

I was searching for bar tricks on youtube, and some how came across this video. It’s effing hilarious!

I wish I was there. “They did it!”