Category Archives: Technology

“That’s enough experiments to show kids how fast a photo can go round the Internet, now,” says Internet.

Teachers now resorting to extreme methods to show kids how dangerous internet is

Teachers now resorting to extreme methods to show kids how dangerous internet is

The Internet’s patience wore dangerously thin last night as yet another picture of an American 9th grade teacher holding up a sign was wearily shared on social media.

The exercise, supposed to warn teens of the potential risks of posting information and images online, has quickly become a tedious cliché and the Internet warned yesterday that we are close to the snapping point of its benevolence towards well-meaning junior high school teachers.

“OK, the first couple of times it was a fresh way to engage kids, and we all wanted to help them out – I’m sure the share and like numbers were very impressive,” commented a visibly annoyed Internet, “but I swear to god if I see one more of these bullshit copy-cat requests, I’m going to write a bunch of sarcastic comments or do a parody meme with cats. I haven’t thought it through yet, but it will be pithy and cynical,” the Internet added.

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Filed under 29/9 attrocities, Culture, Education, Sex, spam, Technology

‘Stop comparing everything to Syria you bell-end’ say acquaintances of local bell-end

sad faceA local reaction-seeker has been urged to stop mentioning Syria in ripostes to every single problem villagers bring up in conversation.

From subsidence to flooding, from car breakdowns to dogs with impacted anal glands, every grumble is directly compared by Allan Hostage to the situation in Homs.

“Thanks to the storms, my house has flooded for the first time in 60 years”, said pensioner Elsie Duggan. “At my age, it’s a difficult thing to go through.”

“But when I mentioned it in Sally’Z Cut’z while she was topping up my blue rinse, Hostage appeared from nowhere and said ‘it was nothing compared with the plight of the Syrian people’.”
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Filed under Around Harold, Social media, Technology, War

How to beat Flappy Bird: Step-by-step guide

flappy_bird_ipad_mini_hero

Such a simple idea and yet so difficult to do well. Just like communism or a sitcom on ITV

Step one: put iPad down.

Step two: pick up hammer.

Step three: apply hammer to iPad.

Congratulations you have just beaten Flappy Bird. Now go outside and get some fresh air.

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Filed under Entertainment, Technology

Oscar nominations dominated by people’s bloody Facebook movies

faceoscar

We can’t get enough of them!

A shock late rush of Oscar nominations has been announced, consisting entirely of a large selection of those fascinating “My Facebook movie” movies.

These videos are automatically generated by Facebook from a fairly random choice out of all the photos and words you’ve ever posted on the site.

As you’d expect from Facebook, the quality of the resulting movies is so outstanding that the Oscar judges have been obliged to cancel the nominations for all the ‘traditional’ movies this year, replacing them with the artistically superior Facebook ones.

Upcoming Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres spoke today of her joy that ‘American Hustle’, ‘Gravity’ and ‘Captain Phillips’ are being replaced by Melanie Delaney’s uncompromising ‘My Facebook Movie’, Kevin Ronsson’s enchanting ‘My Facebook Movie’, and experimental art-house/Dogme epic ‘My Facebook Movie’ from Simon Kettle (aged 14). Continue reading

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Filed under Around Harold, Entertainment, Technology

Protesters call for ban on Chinese GM ‘super cows’

GM cows

Large, or really close? – GM Super Cows are ‘upsettingly big’ claim protesters

Huge, genetically modified cows that were created using rat genes have brought howls of protests at a local farm.

Standing at over three metres tall and weighing as much as five tonnes, each cow can produce around 180 litres of milk a day.

The mega cattle were initially conceived to get round EC milk quotas, which are based on the number of heads in a herd. But despite quotas being phased out the moo-sive cows are gaining popularity, this time as a simple show of farming might.

The cows were produced by China’s burgeoning biotech sector, combining genes from a regular Holstein-Friesian cow and a rat. “Rats have an amazing property: they never stop growing”, explained head of research at Deng Bio, Dr Wei Tsao. “By combining this trait with the highly productive Holstein, we have created an enormous cow with lucrative udders.”

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Filed under Around Harold, Business, Farming, Technology

Benefit claimants to be fracked for wasted energy

anti-fracking

Laid-back protesters campaigning for energy conservation.

Harold’s Dr Evans has been selected to help trial a new combined health and domestic fuel supply initiative for people suffering from conditions such as obesity and laziness, based on the same technology used in fracking for shale gas.

“Government scientists think there could a lot of re-useable trapped energy in the bodies of people who don’t get enough exercise,” said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, “especially the ones who are out of work and claiming benefits.  Fracking fat, lazy people for the wasted energy they have selfishly trapped inside themselves is one way of helping them to give something back to society.”

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Filed under Health, science, Technology

Universal Credit ‘a farce’ claim gaseous creatures of Alpha Centauri

spiral

Ian Duncan Smith insists Universal Credit wouldn’t pour money into a black hole.

The government’s much-maligned Universal Credit reforms have again faced stinging criticism, this time from the gaseous creatures of Earth’s closest neighbouring star system.

Keen to avoid another u-turn, Ian Duncan Smith wants to keep the name ‘universal’ while making sure as few people as possible are eligible to claim.

In a compromise thrashed out with the Lib Dems, the benefit will be opened up to all known galaxies, but only to sentient beings that have lived in the UK for more than two years and that can speak English, Latin and Plutonian.
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Filed under Politics, Technology

Face chip means buskers can accept ‘contactless payments’

busk credit

Check your busker is NFC-enabled before rubbing a phone on their face.

A technology firm in Dunstable is bringing street musicians into the 21st century, allowing the public to pay them by simply swiping a mobile phone against their face.

The firm Vizcorps has pioneered an operation to emplant a ‘near field chip’ under the skin of a busker. It’s relatively painless if the performer ticks the ‘anaesthetic’ option and the procedure can be paid for using Google Wallet, Zapp or PayPal.

‘I used to find all the loose change awfully inconvenient’, said ‘living statue’ Brian Grisham. ‘And besides, so few people carry actual cash these days. In the past, it was traditional to collect tips in an upturned tweed cap. But that’s outdated, fewer and fewer of us these days are accepting payment by checks.’
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Filed under Art, Technology

Vodafone customer services feared dead at home

vodahome

Perhaps we got the wrong address.

A ‘missing persons’ alert has been issued after it was revealed that no-one had heard from Vodafone customer services for over a month.

Confused, vulnerable and ostensibly deaf, Vodafone customer services is thought to be ‘at considerable risk’ of making anyone they may meet ‘frustrated, desperate and dangerously angry’.

According to investigating officer PC Flegg, ‘it’s not hard to imagine even Gandhi flipping out and stoving their head in with his sandal. We think they may have an extreme personality disorder, which compels them to ignore other people for as long as the money rolls in.’

The alarm was first raised when neighbours noticed there was a lot of milk bottles left on the step, and most of them had rolled-up notes stuck in the top.

‘I read a few’, revealed Flegg. ‘They mostly said things like ‘twats’, ‘bell-ends’ and ‘grrrr’. It’s almost as if people are trying to communicate without being able to resort to their phones.’
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Filed under Business, Technology

NHS trials ‘skinny suits’ on obese patients

skinny suit

Skinny suit can make the fat people feel ‘as svelte as an airship’.

The NHS is squeezing fat patients into skinny suits, to give them an idea of what it feels like to be slim.

Imported from the US at a cost of £1,000 each, the suits can compress a 400-lb woman down to a size 10 dress size: the process uses something called ‘gut wax’ and an industrial vacuum.

It’s hoped that the suits will provide an insight into just how hard it can be to roll some of their fattest fellow patients from the ward down to the vending machines and back, and perhaps establish a glimmer of self-loathing, moderation and personal responsibility.

Anne Fallow is in charge of the trial, and explained the NHS’s new approach to dealing with the clinically greedy.
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Filed under Medicine, Technology

Syrian hackers improve Skype

image

Hackers have dramatically improved Skype, Microsoft has confirmed.

A group calling themselves the Syrian Electronic Army has claimed responsibility for the Enhancement of Service Attack (EoSA), which for a time left users able to make video calls without gnawing through their fists in frustration.

“The Syrian Electronic Army has struck a blow against Western Neo-Con Troubleshooters”, read a statement. “Once again, President Assad can speak to his loyal followers while showing us his genitals.”

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Filed under News, Technology

Captain Alistair Cook sets off to sea to ‘undiscover Australia’

nostralia

No-stralia: the undiscovered country.

The England Cricket Board has funded a major sea voyage, with the hope that Captain Cook can ‘undiscover Australia’.

Whittled from ash and unusually rudderless, it’s hoped the vessel can complete its voyage before sinking without trace.

Speaking from the poop deck, the dashing figure of Alistair Cook pledged that he ‘would not return until the seas below Indonesia were proved to be completely devoid of any troubling land masses’.
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Filed under Sport, Technology

NASA urgently working to put critical space station repairs out to tender

ISS

‘I’ll be back in an hour. I haven’t got the parts on my van.’

A team of contract managers at NASA are working ’round the clock’ to build a tender process for urgent repairs to the International Space Station.

With a critical pump that controls the cooling system failing outside of warranty, finding a contractor that offers value for money has become the agency’s number one priority.

Astronauts on the ISS had hoped to make repairs themselves, but were warned such a move would be considered ‘anti-competitive’.
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Filed under Politics, science, Technology

Lunar robot ‘planning Christmas firework display’

moonsparkle

China may one day put a pyrotechnician on the moon.

A row has broken out between the US and China over a Christmas Day Special Event which was meant to be a surprise for everyone on Earth at Christmas.

The diplomatic row comes after NASA spotted China’s lunar robot placing Roman Candles around the edges of craters on the moon’s surface.  China has complained that NASA just wanted to spoil the surprise because they didn’t think of it.

“The US hasn’t bothered with the moon for many moons,” said Yun-Tsi Tao, head of the Chinese Space Agency.  “Now, all of a sudden, just because we put a robot up there, they’re all goggle-eyed and spoiling the surprise of the Supreme Leader’s gift to the rest of humankind at Christmas, a firework display on the waning gibbous.”

There were fears that the row could escalate after NASA observed the robot flatten the US flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong in 1969.  But the situation was defused when the robot carefully put the flag upright again, apparently of its own volition.  “We thought it had a moral conscience for a minute,” said NASA, “but, no.  It nailed a Catherine Wheel on the flagpole.”

NASA has said it had no idea the fireworks were meant to be a surprise, claiming that most people could see what was going on up there with the naked eye.  “I mean, I was looking through a pair of home-made binoculars that my 7-year-old made from a plastic kit,” said NASA spokesman Flt Lt Denver Colorado, “and I had no trouble reading the name of the factory printed on the fireworks.  Boy, they’re big rockets!”

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Filed under Christmas, Entertainment, Intergalactic News, science, Showbusiness, Technology

World on brink of new Cold War as Dota 2 scraps sign-ups

Cold-War

The good old days, said no one ever.

Vladimir Putin is today threatening to bring “death to the West” over the PC game Dota 2. Earlier this week all player restrictions were removed by online game provider Steam forcing Western gamers to play alongside Russians: a move which has proved as successful as a Gauls and Romans harmony and togetherness workshop.

Dota 2 is a strategy/action game where players who are often total strangers are thrown together to form teams, attack another team and defend their buildings in a pleasing looking fantasy land. Less pleasing is that players talk to each other over mics while doing this. Continue reading

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Archaeologists find ancient visitor centre below new Stonehenge visitor centre

visitor centre

Archaeologists have found earthen jam jars, crude tea towels and an early pen with a feather stuck in it.

A team of archaeologists has made a startling discovery near Stonehenge – an ancient visitor centre, dating back to the Mesolithic period.

Crudely constructed from stone and featuring ramp access for chariots, the ancient visitor centre was found while digging the foundations for a new visitor centre on the same spot.

“At first we weren’t sure what we’d found, which means it was definitely for ritual purposes”, said local historian George Hubert. “But we kept on digging, and soon discovered what appeared to be a diorama.”

The diorama is thought to represent the famous circle of standing stones, but was clearly made from old teeth and bits of knee caps.
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Filed under Culture, Lost and Found, Technology, Vikings

F1 rule changes: car-sick babies set to level the field

F1baby

More volatile than a magnum of champagne.

Formula 1 is facing its most radical overhaul yet, following a rule change to make car-sick babies compulsory.

With opponents claiming the sport is increasingly out of touch with conventional road cars, next season’s vehicles will feature a ticking vomit-bomb right behind the drivers’ ears.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel welcomed the move, claiming he had ‘a lot of experience’ in being followed by whining babies.

The FIA has signed up Mothercare to supply the children, which will be chosen for their light weight, aerodynamics and ability to barf up both lungs at the slightest hint of a wobble.

“We are always looking for ways to make our technology relevant to the road” claimed recently re-elected FIA president Jean Todt. “Although when we showed a panel of Ferrari owners a picture of a baby, under half of them knew what one was.”

Keen to emphasise the sport’s links with conventional automobiles, next season will feature a number of other changes.

“When drivers make a pit stop to have their tyres changed, they’ll also be offered two slightly out-of-date creme eggs for £1”, explained Todt. “Then as they pull back onto the track they’ll have to negotiate a pensioner in a Micra, who simply refuses to move into the other f***ing lane.”

Teams boycotted plans to make their drivers pick up a take-away meal, citing cost as a barrier to some of the smaller teams.

“It might sound simple to design a curry hook that can withstand a few g, but popadoms shatter if you so much as look at them”, claimed Adrian Newey. “And besides, we spend thousands trying to shed those final few grams. Teams like Cosworth can’t really afford to spend £150k on a lightweight carbon fibre replacement for a conventional carrier bag.”

Bernie Ecclestone gave his backing to the latest rule change, and claimed that bilious babies would level the field.

“We won’t know for sure until after the first race in Australia”, said Ecclestone. “If the babies don’t work, we can always switch to Plan B: we’ll make Vettel communicate with his pit crew by text message or by updating his timeline on Facebook.”

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Filed under Sport, Technology

Road glitter lorries ‘festive but treacherous’

glitter

All that glitters is not a contribution to road safety.

Safety campaigners have slammed the council as ‘reckless’ following the introduction of a fleet of road glitters.

Harold council bought three lorries to tackle the impending festivities, and to add a bit of sparkle to the B roads around the village. But Pippa Delaney was highly critical of the new surface treatment, after careering off the road in her Land Rover Freelander on a treacherous mix of sleet, frost and shiny bits of plastic.

Equipped with powerful diesel engines and a sort of spinny metal thing on the back, each of the trucks is capable of covering around 25 miles of road in glitter a night, up to a depth of three inches.

But Delaney insists that far from adding ‘a bit of Christmas magic’ to road traffic accidents, the trucks are actually causing most of them.
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Filed under Around Harold, Health, Technology, Travel

Henry and Hetty Numatic in acrimonious split

henrythebastard

Henry has been accused of landing a sucker punch.

Well-known cleaning couple, Henry and Hetty Numatic, have filed for divorce amid shocking new revelations about their private lives.  The new revelations follow the publication last week of an image showing Henry on the half-landing of their big house on the Dunstable Road with his electric cable wrapped round Hetty’s face.

“There was certainly a face-off,” said the editor of domestic servitude newsletter The Daily Maid.   “He looked like he was trying to strangle her and when they were pulled apart, Hetty’s face came off.  It took ages to snap it back on.”

Fortunately the damage was only cosmetic.  “It’s nothing a bit of plastic surgery can’t fix,” said Henry, dismissing the strangling allegation as nothing more than ‘a cable entanglement incident’.
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Filed under Advertisments, Dating, Lifestyle, Sex, Showbusiness, Technology

‘Greenwash’ claims over double-glazed pint glasses

ecopint

Landlord insists ‘ecopint’ is at least as efficient as windfarms.

A local pub landlord has been accused of misusing a green energy grant, after spending the entire budget on double-glazed pint glasses.

Eddie the barman at the Squirrel Lickers Arms has been charged with ‘greenwash’ by a group of thirsty environmentalists. The same group has also raised doubts over the accuracy of the energy labels adorning his beer pumps, and criticised a ‘green levy’ on so-called ‘hippy sh*t’ on the jukebox.
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Filed under Around Harold, environment, Technology