Links

Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.

New $20 bills

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The US’s new twenty-dollar bills should start hitting banks today, soon to start circulating around to everyone else.

The most noticeable difference in the new design is the subtle introduction of background color, which makes it more burdensome for potential counterfeiters because it adds complexity to the note. The color will also make it easier to distinguish between denominations because different background colors will be used for each denomination.

Male contraceptive on the way?

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With a few more years of testing and study, it appears that may finally be an effective male contraceptive.

Scientists have developed a male contraceptive which was 100% effective and side-effect free in trials.

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The hormonal treatment is a combination of an implant under the skin and injections – meaning men do not have to remember to take a pill every day.

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Researchers from the Anzac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia, gave the treatment to a relatively small sample of 55 men for a year – and none of their partners became pregnant.

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However, it will be some time before the treatment is widely available.

Very cool. Right now it’s a two-part treatment: a under-the-skin implant replaced every four months, and an injection every three months. Maybe with time it’ll be simplified a bit, but no matter what, I think it’s great that there’s at least an encouraging step towards something like this.

Advice for clubbers and bouncers

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Having DJ’d for around eight years in Anchorage, and having been a clubgoer for many years both before and after my DJ years, I’ve worked with and seen a lot of both really good, and really bad people. Ogre, the doorman at the Vogue, is definitely one of the good ones. He’s just put up two posts that I loved.

First off, what he looks for when hiring bouncers (which also explains much of why I’ve found him to be one of the best bouncers I’ve met):

I have some hard and fast criteria for the bouncers I hire. Right off the bat i have the three rules:

  1. Talk some serious shit. I’d rather you never even touch the person you’re throwing out. This requires a quick wit, an even temper, and a good understanding of how to read people. I had one bouncer who could get people to leave by saying “Leave.” and then staring at them and not saying anything, so it’s not just what you say.

    And secondly, some generic advice for clubgoers:

Drunk normal guys looking to score with hot death chicks with no frame of reference:\
You suck and should be bludgeoned to death with a street sign.

Metal guys who think that a fishnet shirt will make them goth: Most of us think you’re an assclown.

Much more on each of those links, of course.

You will never lose betting on human stupidity

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Every so often I mention to people that I haven’t watched television, for the most part, in somewhere around a decade or more. In today’s mass-media-fueled society, that often gets responses ranging from surprise to out and out shock. I’ve got a whole host of reasons why I don’t bother with television — and today, I just got one more.

A game of Russian Roulette with a real, loaded gun is slated to be broadcast live on British television this Sunday in what is being billed as the ultimate reality-TV stunt.

“It is a real gun with a real bullet and I am really putting it against my head,” said Derren Brown a self-styled “psychological illusionist.”

Brown plans to pull the trigger of a 348 Smith & Wesson several times, sensing which chamber the bullet is in, and plans to point the gun away from his body and fire the killer shot harmlessly into the air.

“If I am not 100 percent sure, I will not pull the trigger,” Brown said, admitting, “It would be humiliating but it would be preferable to the other consequences.”

Brown said the show won’t glamorize gun violence.

“We are dealing with it in the most serious and strenuous way possible. The drama will not come from the gun part, but from the fun and games and entertainment that comes from the selection process.”

The show will air on a several-second delay in case Brown shoots himself. If that happens, viewers will not see the gun fire into his head. Instead, the screen will go blank and display a message advising viewers what’s happened.

This just does not seem like a good idea.

Of course, the ratings are going to be incredible.

(via Lane)

[Update:]{.underline}

The stupid git actually survived (and there’s even a play by play account). He’s lucky. But how about the idiots out there who decide to copy him? Think that they’ll be as lucky?

Genetic Engineering

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NZ billboard protesting genetic engineering

Here’s an eye opener for you — a New Zealand billboard from Mothers Against Genetic Engineering protesting genetic engineering experiments that asks “Why not just genetically engineer women for milk?”

Aside from the obvious (and brilliant) attention-getting shock tactics of the image, there’s some interesting questions being raised here.

New Zealanders are allowing a handful of corporate scientists and ill-informed politicians to make decisions on the ethics of GE. Our largest science company, AgResearch, is currently putting human genes into cows in the hope of creating new designer milks. The ethics of such experiments have not even been discussed by the wider public. How far will we allow them to go?

Unfortunately, it’s time for me to head out the door to get to work. Discuss amongst yourselves.

(via MeFi)

Carver

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Carver

Oh, wow — I so want one of these!

Steer it like a car and the Carver will bank like a motorcycle. The fully automatic hydraulic-mechanical DVC system makes this exciting kind of driving possible, lending itself very well to a sporty driving style. Enjoy the steering and feel how responsive DVC balances the vehicle body for you, banking to the exact natural angle. Its low weight and aerodynamic design allows the modern 4 cylinder 65 bhp engine to take CARVER in 8.2 seconds to 100 km/hour and to a top speed of 180 km/hour.

This little vehicle looks perfect for me — small, great for in-city driving, lots of fun to drive around in, and very eye-catching. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s only available in Europe. Bleah. I can dream, though, can’t I?

(via Blue Stone)