The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine. [Stuart Fox of Popular Science]

Seriously interesting that this isn’t coming from The Onion.

The only party I could see Window’s users partaking in is the “Ditching Windows for Anything Else” party.

Oh thank God, someone Cabel Sasser made it better:

If you’re hosting a Windows 7 launch party it’s the end of the world as we know it feel free to post a comment. I hope this post has no such comments.

“I enjoy all aspects of data processing.”

is your item still for sale??

Naturally I responded:

Yes. Are you interested

The next email I receive states that the person is completely OK with the price and doesn’t want to look at it, however, now this person begins sending all text italicized:

I am buying it for a friend,here is the shipping address

Marcus Tate
6454 n ridge ave apt g w
chicago, IL 60626

I’m OK with the listed price and the condition of the item.get back to me with the shipping cost via UPS Next Day air and your paypal email ID so i can proceeds with the payment.

So I checked how much it would cost to ship on UPS’s website and told the person:

Next day air from UPS will cost approximately $165.00.

Would you like to see the item?

My paypal account is

Please note that the item will ship as soon as funds are approved and exist in my bank account. There are no returns of any kind. The money is non-refundable.

Today I received two emails, one from Diana and one from “Paypal”:

I Have sent the payment and am sure you must have received the payment confirmation in your email.I want you to ship the package tomorrow(Monday) via UPS Next Air Day Delivery Service only and get back to me with the tracking number.

here is the receiver information below :
Marcus Tate
6454 n ridge ave apt g w
chicago, IL 60626

get back to me with the tracking number after you shipped it.

The email from “Paypal” has these email headers:

from service@paypal.com <Paypalmembersecured@mail2consultant.com>
reply-to paypalmembersecured@mail2consultant.com
to
date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 10:14 AM
subject Paypal Notification:Payment Temporary Holding Confirmation (C840-L001-Q999-T5365) Routing Code Confirmed

For all of you who do not know how to check the headers, you can either let me google that for you, or use command+shift+H in Apple Mail or click show details near the top of any given message in gmail.

However, here is my response to Diana stating that her funds have been sent:

Dear Diana,

How are you? You are about to get one incredible piece of machine. You see, I bought this computer during a trip in the midwest. St. Louis was my destination and I had no intention of buying anything, let alone a computer.

There was a girl. We met at a bar one night in New York City. It was a cheeky little bar and I was going out just to get drunk, but my luck turned upside down. I saw her. Her grace was exotic and she was feverishly hot. I took her back to my motel and the rest is history.

But she left.

It must have been the middle of the night or early in the morning – she was gone. “Lucy! Lucy!” I yelled as I walked around the apartment checking the motel lobby. She was gone and it was the best night I’ve ever had.

She was crazy in love with me. She smelled like sweet nectar. So I did what any sane man would do and chased her back to St. Louis.

I was walking in the area that she lived, the 2100 block of St. Louis where an Apple store resides. I had no intention of stopping in, but the modern architecture reminded me of her sweet bosom – she always wanted a computer.

So I did what any lover would do on a whim and bought her the best computer in the store. The Mac Pro. It was going to be great. She was going to love it. I could not wait to see the look on her face when she saw me holding it. It was going to astound and arouse her.

But I never gave her the computer, I found out that her address was that of a monastery and she was a catholic nun. She blessed the computer but couldn’t accept it and I took it home with me.

So here we are several months later. I have a computer that has been blessed by the holiest of all holiest and I’m about to send it off to your acquaintance.

I would really appreciate it, Diana, if you would come pick up the computer yourself. It requires gentle hands, for it has been blessed. I can’t bring it to the UPS store because they aren’t gentle enough to transport this beautiful blessed machine.

I have yet to receive a response. We’ll see.

Dr Emma Bradford, of Reading University, said: “I guess you would have to rip out a few pages of Leviticus and then somehow fashion them into a condom-like device using lots and lots of masking tape.

Has the Pope lost his marbles? Will I be struck down by lightning for questioning him?

Read More.

dinosaursfuckingrobots.com is this weeks oddest site.

Shepherd Fairey, the famous graffiti artist responsible for Obey as well iconic imagery used in the Barack Obama presidential campaign was arrested in Boston on Friday night. Fairey was in town for an opening of a new show of his, “Supply and Demand,” at the Institute of Contemporary Art. He was arrested on two outstanding warrants for graffiti in Boston. [Thomas Hawk]

Read more at Thomas Hawks blog, “Digital Connection“

TED, the annual gathering of the most pretentious people from the fields of technology, entertainment, and design, just got punk’d. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates released a swarm of mosquitos into the crowd. [Owen Thomas]

Philanthropy at it’s best.

The 23-year-old allegedly broke into the Laneway Adult Shop in the northen Australian city of Cairns on several occasions, having sex with a doll named “Jungle Jane,” the Cairns Post reported. [CNN]

I guess he hasn’t heard of the “internets”.

Read More.

Watch the entire episode.