h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There was a piece about that on the BBC this morning.

Pelican? Sure, why not? Anything's possible. But didn't they just pass a state law in Texas banning the use of cellphones while driving? Oops.

Or is that just in Austin?

It's not state wide. And where there is such a law they usually allow hands free sets which are hardly safer.

I'm no apologist for mobile phone use in cars, but I've always wondered about the difference between talking to a passenger in a car and talking on a hands-free phone. They're both equally distracting, and obviously you could never enforce a law that demands compete silence in a car, so if it's okay to talk to people who are in the car without your hands leaving the wheel, why not a hands-free phone?

There's a big difference. When talking with another passenger in the car, they are participatory. The conversation changes in reaction to traffic conditions. It's still distracting but not to the level of a cell phone. The human mind can only handle 5-6 stimuli at once before inattentional blindness sets in. I recently watched a show on this where they took people and had them drive in a simulator while talking with someone using a hands free ear piece. They also wired them up to an ECG to monitor their brain reactions and eye motion trackers to monitor what they actually looked at. They drove approximately 20 minutes and then were given a visual multiple choice test to pick scenes from their drive. These people could not recall seeing such things as accident scenes with bright yellow fire trucks right on the side of the road even though their eyes looked directly at it. Even though they looked at it they didn't actually see it.

Here's a little clip on inattentional blindness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AwwlJtnwA8

OK... If you're in the market for Warhol paintings it would probably be a good idea to do a bit of research first before putting $25,000 down.

For example, you might like to know when Andy Warhol DIED!
(Oh, and also how many Baldwin brothers there are.)

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13819856

This one doesn't really fall under "stupidity" but it doesn't deserve its own thread.

I was just reading the NPR website and I see the headline "In Oslo Speech, Obama Must Sidestep Land Mines".

I think, 'Oh, they must be making a pun'... nope. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121246503

It was just ironic that they mentioned the word landmines in an article about Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Late last month, it was announced that the Obama administration would not be signing the Ottawa treating banning landmines. Over 150 other nations were, but the U.S., Russia, China, Myanmar, Pakistan and India were holding out.

Correction, Ottawa Treaty. My brain words no make good.

Well, let's add Slovakian security to the stupid list.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8441891.stm

Blimey! Now that is stupid.

May I be allowed to add one to your thread?

http://failblog.org/2010/01/06/field-trip-fail/

Here's Faux News' Brit Hume proving that he doesn't know what proselytizing means, nor does he know how to be a professional journalist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLs1bUhc498

Oh, the Slovapidity gets better. The passenger arrived in Dublin with no problems as they don't screen bags a second time on arrival. He went home as normal. Then Irish police raid his flat on a tip from Slovak authorities... who failed to tell them that they planted the explosives in the first place!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34710537/ns/world_news-europe/

http://imgur.com/bpUeJ

Canyonero!!!

From Canyonero to Habanero...

I just read an article about 10 German boys, ages 13 and 14, who drank hot sauce in school. The chili sauce was rated at around 530,000 Scoville units. I probably have a couple of sauces at home that are about that if not a bit higher. Tabasco brand is rated at only 2,500.

The article says that 8 of the boys were hospitalized after complaining of "feeling sick" and were held for observation.

Here's the thing, hot sauces and peppers will NOT injure you (unless you have an allergic reaction). The pain from spicy things is not a physical reaction. It's the reaction of pain receptors being stimulated by certain proteins. While people might describe a hot sauce as being "blistering hot", peppers will not cause blisters (again, unless there is an allergic reaction and those aren't exactly blisters).

Anyway, I just couldn't help but laugh at hearing that the Red Cross was quoted as saying the boys were hospitalized after complaining of "feeling sick"... Well, no ... They drank hot sauce!

They're going to feel much worse tomorrow!

Wait... more like

You get the idea.

Ouch!

I've had some hot curries that have... well, I won't go into too much detail. Let's just say that I have an idea of what they'll be experiencing.

I think the description you're looking for, btw, is 'scorchio!'

Indeed.