Hoax Forum

Broken Relationships Museum

2012-02-14T13:00:03+00:00

What to do with all those things you accumulate in a relationship once it’s over?

Donate it to the Museum of Broken Relationships!

What becomes of a garden gnome hurled in fury at a windscreen during a stormy break-up?

Or a teddy bear that was once a Valentine’s Day present?

A wedding dress from a marriage gone awry? An axe that smashed through household furniture?

All are on display at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia’s capital Zagreb, each with written testimonies telling tales of passion, romance and heartbreak.

On Valentine’s Day, the museum sees its visits almost double.

“The objects that are here represent all the stages of a break-up . . . and how people go through love,” said Drazen Grubisic, a designer and artist who co-founded the museum in 2010 in Zagreb.

“We might say it’s a love museum, just upside down.”

The mementos - collected from all over the world - are random and varied, ranging from fake rubber breasts to a cast from a broken leg. Each item comes with dates and locations of the relationships, and notes by their anonymous donors.

Some are funny. The note next to a garter belt says: “I never put them on. The relationship might have lasted longer if I had.”

Some are bitter. The garden gnome flew over a car driven by a husband who turned “arrogant and heartless”. It bounced on the asphalt, shattering its face.

“It was a long loop, drawing an arc of time . . . that defined the end of love,” the note from Slovenia said.

An axe from Berlin was used by a woman to smash every piece of furniture her girlfriend had left behind.

“The more the room filled with chopped furniture, (the more) I felt better.”

The text by a blue frisbee reads: “Darling, should you ever get the ridiculous idea to walk into a cultural institution like a museum for the first time in your life, you’ll remember me.”

The museum, located just across from Zagreb’s City Hall where couples get married, displays about 100 “relics” out of about 1000 that have been collected from around the world.

Parts of the collection have travelled as far as Manila, London and Singapore to be put on display. In each city, the heartbroken can donate their stuff to the Zagreb museum.

A prosthetic leg now showcased in England at the National Centre for Craft and Design, was donated by a war veteran who fell in love with his physical therapist.

A note says it lasted longer than the relationship because it was made of “sturdier material”.

The museum itself is the brainchild of a break-up. When Grubisic and co-founder Olinka Vistica, a filmmaker, split up, they got stuck when it came to dividing their sentimental memorabilia. They didn’t want to just get rid of it, so they created a museum.

“Maybe sometime in your life you will want to remember some of the good parts of the relationship,” Grubisic said.

He said donors of mementos found the giving therapeutic.

“They can move on,” he said.
“They also show there’s something universal: all have been broken hearted at least once.”

Man Has Been Digging Out His Basement Using Only R/C Scale-Model Construction Equipment

2012-02-14T12:36:13+00:00

... Since 1997!

A Canadian guy named Joe has been digging out the basement of his house using nothing but radio-controlled scale model construction equipment… since 1997. Yes, you read that right — he’s been digging out his basement for 15 years — with nothing but little R/C tractors, diggers and even a miniature rock crusher! Amazing.

At an average rate of eight or nine cubic feet of earth moved each year, the process has been absolutely glacial. But what do you expect when every morning he drives his little excavator on its transport truck down to the basement, unloads it, and then uses it to dig out the basement walls.

Then Joe uses the excavators to load R/C trucks and they work their way up a spiral ramp to the basement window where the soil gets dumped outside.

Then, once it’s outside, he uses bulldozers to consolidate the pile of excavated dirt.

So why does he do it?

Full Story with Photos.

Joe´s Blog with Videos.

Alcohol intake aids problem solving

2012-02-14T09:18:45+00:00

Facing a though dilemma? Take some alcohol:

Journal: Consciousness and Cognition (2012, in press)

Uncorking the muse: Alcohol intoxication facilitates creative problem solving

Andrew F. Jarosz, Gregory J.H. Colflesh & Jennifer Wiley
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Abstract

That alcohol provides a benefit to creative processes has long been assumed by popular culture, but to date has not been tested. The current experiment tested the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication on a common creative problem solving task, the Remote Associates Test (RAT). Individuals were brought to a blood alcohol content of approximately .075, and, after reaching peak intoxication, completed a battery of RAT items. Intoxicated individuals solved more RAT items, in less time, and were more likely to perceive their solutions as the result of a sudden insight. Results are interpreted from an attentional control perspective.

source (pay-walled scientific paper)

Whitney Houston Dies

2012-02-12T02:42:54+00:00

LINK

American singer and actress Whitney Houston has died in Los Angeles at the age of 48.

A spokesman for Houston’s family confirmed the news, saying: “Unfortunately, it is true.”

Houston was one of the most celebrated female singers of all time, with hits including I Will Always Love You and Saving All My Love For You.

But her later career was overshadowed by substance abuse and her turbulent marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

Police spokesman Mark Rosen told reporters Houston was found dead at 17:55 pm (23:55 GMT) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The cause of her death remains unclear.

United States Navy To trial Rail Guns

2012-02-10T16:49:02+00:00

News Link:

(More links and such at above story link)

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today that they will begin testing an advanced Electromagnetic Railgun (EMR) within the next few weeks. The development and testing of this advanced EMR is the result of a $21 million contract awarded to BAE Systems by the Office of Naval Research roughly two years ago. For those that may not know, the ONR is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that facilitates all science and technology programs for the U.S Navy and Marine Corps through various institutions, such as universities and government laboratories.

While most munitions both heavy and small depend on chemical propellants (like gunpowder), the EM Railgun launcher (as you may have guessed from its name) utilizes magnetic energy instead. The EM Railgun propels a conductive projectile along metal rails using a magnetic field powered by electricity. The magnetic field produced by the high electric currents thrusts a sliding metal conductor between two rails to launch a projectile at velocities of 4,500 to 5,600 mph. By contrast, the average velocity of a chemical propelled weapon is limited to about 2,700 give or take.

So what does that mean? Well, this increased velocity should allow for the Navy to reach targets of up to 50 to 100 nautical miles away or, if your inner sea-dog is a little rusty, about 57 to 115 miles out. Navy planners hope to eventually increase that range even further to distances up to 220 nautical miles (253 miles).

According to ONR, this increase velocity and extended range will give sailors multi-mission capability, and allow them to conduct precise naval surface fire support. In addition, ONR states that the EM Railgun may provide effective ballistic missile defense.

BAE Systems EM Railgun was delivered to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren on January 30, 2012 and features a 32-megajoule payload. To add some perspective, one megajoule of energy is equivalent to a one ton car traveling at 100 miles per hour.

More possible scamming on Facebook, for a change!

2012-02-09T23:27:28+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16755434

Facebook sues alleged clickjacking spammer sparking row

Facebook is suing a marketing firm, accusing it of “spreading spam through misleading and deceptive tactics”.

Adscend Media is alleged to have carried out “clickjacking”.

The practice involves placing posts on the social network which include code that causes the links to appear on the users’ homepages as a “liked” item without their permission. The links are designed to take users to other sites.

Adscend Media said it “vehemently denied” the “false claims”.

Accusations

Facebook likened its security efforts to an “arms race” and said that it was committed to pursuing “bad actors”.

“Facebook’s security professionals have made tremendous strides against this particular form of attack and we are intent on eradicating it completely,” said Craig Clark, the firm’s lead litigation counsel.

“We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to ensure that scammers do not profit from misusing Facebook’s services.”

Washington State also filed a related lawsuit. Its lawyers said that they believed that this was the first time any state had gone to court to combat spam on the social network.

“We don’t ‘like’ schemes that illegally trick Facebook users into giving up personal information or paying for unwanted subscription services through spam,” said the state’s attorney general, Rob McKenna.

Mr McKenna’s office said that Adscend Media had earned as much $1.2m (£766,000) a month from the practice.

Strong denial

However, the accused firm released a statement on Friday evening which said: “At no time did we engage in the activity alleged in the complaints.

“Adscend Media strictly complies with its legal obligations under federal and state law. We are undertaking an investigation to determine whether any of Adscend Media’s affiliates engaged in the activity alleged by the Attorney General’s office and Facebook.

“If they did, we are fully certain that the activity was conducted without the company’s knowledge.”

The firm’s lawyer went on to accuse the Washington State authorities of being “irresponsible”.

“We find it deeply troubling that the Attorney General’s office made a public spectacle of these serious allegations without first questioning the company as part of its investigatory process and, even more inexplicably, without notifying the company that the complaint was being filed,” said Mark Rosenberg.

He added that Adscend Media was now prepared to pursue a defamation action against those “responsible for tarnishing the reputation of the company”.

Invisible buttons

Facebook has posted an article about the case in which it explained that it believed the “scam” had worked by exploiting a vulnerability in people’s internet browsers that allowed its ‘Like’ button to be hidden.

“Once the ‘Like’ button is made invisible, scammers can overlay pictures and other content, to trick the user to click on the invisible ‘Like’ button,” it said.

“First, Facebook users are encouraged to click the ‘Like’ button on the scammers’ Facebook Pages, which then alerts their friends to the existence of the page. Then they are told that they cannot access the content unless they complete an online survey or advertising offer.”

It said one case had involved a link promising to show a man who had taken a picture of his face every day over eight years.

Facebook said that the content often had not existed, and users had been directed to third-party sites. It alleged that “the scammers receive money for each misdirected user”.

Stock sale

Facebook said that less than 4% of the content shared on its site was currently spam.

The internet security firm, Sophos, acknowledged that the network was trying to combat the problem, but suggested further steps should be taken.

“Facebook tried to introduce anti-clickjacking technology to fight the problem, but it was never entirely satisfactory,” said the Sophos’s senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.

“What would have been good would have been if Facebook had introduced a ‘confirmation’ dialog every time a user ‘likes’ a page on a third-party website. That way, the clickjackers would have been able to trick you into clicking like but you would still have had to confirm that you really wanted to share the message with your online friends.

“In the run-up to IPO [initial public offering], we’re sure to see Facebook doing more to present itself as company that is fighting security threats like this.”

This is the second time this month that Facebook has accused a group of illegal activity on its site. Last week it named several Russia-based suspects who it said were responsible for a malware attack known as the “Koobface worm”.

Multiple reports suggest that the network may float its stock within the next four months. Bloomberg says the firm may sell a minority stake for $10bn, valuing the firm at 10 times the price.

Siberian Mammoth

2012-02-09T17:33:51+00:00

‘Woolly mammoth’ spotted in Siberia

A BEAST lurches through icy waters in a sighting a paranormal investigator thinks could prove woolly mammoths are not extinct after all.

The animal – thought to have mostly died out roughly 4,000 years ago – was apparently filmed wading through a river in the freezing wilds of Siberia.

The jaw-dropping footage was caught by a government-employed engineer last summer in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug region of Siberia, it is claimed

He filmed the elephant-sized creature as it struggled against the racing water.

Its hair matches samples recovered from mammoth remains regularly dug up from the permafrost in frozen Russia.

The official was reportedly in the area surveying for a planned road.

Paranormal writer Michael Cohen said: “Rumours of a handful of mammoths still kicking around in the vast wilderness of Siberia have been circulating for decades and occasionally sightings by locals have occurred.

“Siberia is an enormous territory and much of it remains completely unexplored and untouched by humans. “

Woolly mammoths roamed the Earth 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age.

A small pocket remained on and around Wrangel Island, off the coast of Siberia, and these did not die out until 3,500 years ago.

Mr Cohen, 41, added: “It is highly possible that a number of species, extinct elsewhere, survive in the area.

“If surviving woolly mammoths were found in Siberia, it could run against Russia’s plans to further develop and exploit the area’s considerable resources.

“It would be potentially one of the greatest discoveries ever.”

But viewers are divided on the nature of the animal seen in the video. Some have dismissed it as a hoax while others reckon it is an elephant lost in the Siberian wilderness. The third theory is the sighting shows a bear eating a huge fish. What do you think?

The video looks too much like how you’d expect a mammoth fording a river to look for me to believe it’s a bear with a big fish or even a lost elephant. I’m calling either a hoax video (most likely) or an actual mammoth. I’ve read a few supposed eyewitness accounts of mammoths, but I’d always lumped them together with bigfoots and nessies. I briefly wondered whether it was anything to do with this.

Purple Squirrel

2012-02-08T16:28:12+00:00

PURPLE SQUIRREL FOUND IN PENNSYLVANIA

A purple squirrel was found in Jersey Shore, Pa., on Sunday, by Percy and Connie Emert.

“We have bird feeders out in our yard, and the squirrels are constantly into them,” said Jersey Shore resident Connie Emert. “My husband traps them and then sets them free elsewhere so they don’t get into your bird feeders.”

Emert said she had spotted a purple squirrel on her property but no one believed her.

“I kept telling my husband I saw a purple one out in the yard. ‘Oh sure you did’ he kept telling me,” said Emert. “Well, he checked the trap around noon on Sunday and sure enough, there it was.”

It was a warm and sunny day in Jersey Shore, Pa., on Sunday.

“The squirrel’s been eating peanuts. That’s what we used in the trap,” she continued.

The Emerts currently do not know why the squirrel is purple.

“We have no idea whatsoever. It’s really purple. People think we dyed it, but honestly, we just found it and it was purple.”

The Emerts plan to release the squirrel back into the wild in the next few days.

“We put him in an extra big cage so he has room to run around, and we’ll release him soon. In the meantime, all the neighbors have been by to see him. No one can believe we have a purple squirrel!”

The AccuWeather.com team is currently investigating why this squirrel is purple. Stay with AccuWeather.com for more developments.

Some AccuWeather.com employees have their own theories. Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said, “The squirrel could have been looking for somewhere warm and fallen into a port-a-potty or something similar.”

AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski has a different idea. “Squirrels get into all kinds of stuff. He could have gotten into some purple ink or purple paint at some point.”

Local squirrel enthusiast Erik Stewart said, “If it has white hair on it at all, it’s probably not dyed. I’ve had multiple squirrels as pets, though, and I’ve certainly never seen a purple one. I’ve seen dark red, light red, gray and brown, but never purple. Also, I’ve tried to dye my dog before, and trust me it didn’t look like this. Though, I’ve only seen a picture, so your guess is as good as mine.”

My favourite quotation from this article is this one,

Also, I’ve tried to dye my dog before, and trust me it didn’t look like this.

Mutant Nuclear Spider?

2012-02-06T17:47:05+00:00

Scientists are investigating a bizarre white cobweb found on nuclear waste - amid fears it could have been made by a ‘mutant’ spider.
In a freakish echo of the Spider-Man comic strip, workers at a U.S nuclear waste facility discovered the growth on uranium last month.
The white ‘string-like’ material - never seen before on nuclear waste - was found among thousands of spent fuel assemblies submerged in deep pools.

LINK

Rolling Stone article - One town’s war on g a y teens

2012-02-03T14:35:37+00:00

I was blocked form posting this due to the stupidly sensitive forum software. I guess that is indicative of the programmer’s fears about discussing ‘taboo’ subjects such as homosexuality.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-g ay-teens-20120202

You’ll have to take out the space in the word g a y for the link to work.

It is depressing to see this kind of thing is still happening in what is supposed to be a developed country. I guess that as long as religion is around this kind of medieval mindset will exist as well. Shocking and disgusting is a mild way of putting the situation.