Archive for the ‘silliness’ Category.

Stealing An Airplane – To Attack Wisconsin? For The Love Of Beef Jerky And Gatorade?

No, this isn’t even remotely a tech blog entry this time. This is an entertainment blog. Because sometimes, reality really is stranger than fiction.  Such as the story of one Adam Leon.

Adam Dylan Leon, age 31, did something a little crazy yesterday.  At about 2:30pm on the 6th of April, Adam stole a Cessna 172 from the Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Adam then proceeded to fly south down through Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and eventually Missouri.  Along the way he was joined by two F-16 Falcon fighter jets from the Wisconsin National Guard, who were authorized to shoot him down, but merely escorted him as Adam was not believed to be a terrorist and never did anything to pose as a threat other than a little erratic flying and failing to respond to any and all communications.  He seemed to intentionally avoid flying over any heavily populated areas, and actually flew above the Cessna’s ceiling.

Along the way, the Wisconsin state capitol building in Madison briefly evacuated all personnel as a precaution just after 5pm, even though the governor was not in town.  A case of better safe than sorry.

Adam’s flight came to an end as he landed his stolen Cessna on Route FF, near Ellsinore, Mo.  Adam then proceeded to flee into the woods, evading police.  Once clear, he hitch-hiked to Simmons Grocery & Hardware, near Ellsinore, where he tried to purchase some lemon-lime Gatorade and beef jerky.  Unfortunately Adam didn’t have sufficient cash for it all, so he settled on just the Gatorade.  Approximately thirty minutes later, around 10:20pm, while listening to store staff talk about the police search for him and still calmly sipping his drink, police flooded the store and arrested him.  Adam went willingly, asking only that he please be allowed to use the rest room.  I guess because of all that Gatorade.

Approximate flight path of Adam Dylan Leon on his suicide Cessna theft, courtesy of Google Earth.

Approximate flight path of Adam Dylan Leon on his suicide Cessna theft, courtesy of Google Earth.

Purportedly, Adam left a suicide note near the hangar where he stole the Cessna.  And according to Justin Watson, the Missouri State Trooper who brought Adam Leon to justice, “He made a statement that he was trying to commit suicide and he didn’t have the courage to do it himself. And his idea was to fly the aircraft into the United States, where he would be shot down.“  In these troubled times, an attempted suicide is certainly nothing surprising.  But perhaps stealing a Cessna from Canada and flying through several states in the US in an attempt to get F-16s to blow you up is.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.  There weren’t even any damages reported.  The only real loss in the whole affair was the fuel used in the Cessna, the approximately fifty grand USD per hour per F-16 for a total cost of around $500,000, and the time of everyone involved.  And hopefully now while Adam sits in the Butler County Jail he can find the help that he needs.

The World Is Ending! Doner Kebab Pot Noodle Is The Sign Of The Apocalypse!

The UK is introducing something so obvious, yet so horrendous, that it can only mean the world is about to come to an abrupt end.  It’s the sign of the apocalypse: the doner kebab flavoured pot noodle!

This is the end of the world!  It is a doner kebab flavoured pot noodle!

This is the end of the world! It is a doner kebab flavoured pot noodle!

IT industry workers especially are already quite familiar with the many wonderful varieties of ramen noodles.  It’s somewhat of a mystery as to why, but living in a maze of cubicles and otherwise treated like rodents may be a factor.  As might the constant intellectual demand, draining the IT industry of things like good taste or social skills.

But it’s the Brits really who have been turning the pot noodle into a blazing industry of pseudo-culinary escapism.  They make the American IT industry look like petty noodle munchers.  It’s their high demand for instant noodles in a cup that have really driven the industry.

And if there’s one other thing that the Brits also love, its getting drunk.

No, wait.

I mean it’s stumbling home with a doner kebab, of possibly questionable origins.

So given that, it’s no wonder really that some lazy sot genius decided that it was time to combine the two into one horridly unpallatable nightmare that could only be consumed after large quantities of bitter: the doner kebab pot noodle!

Okay, so yes, it’s cheap.  But then so is a doner kebab.

Okay, so yes, making it is quick.  But then with vendors selling them everywhere, so is buying a doner kebab.

So then what is the purpose of doner kebab flavoured pot noodle?  It can be only one thing: the end of the world!

No, seriously.

Look back at zombie movies like Shaun of the Dead.  What simple one thing could have saved the world?  A pantry of pot noodles!  But one food would have made even the most stoic of Brits run out into the zombie-infested streets looking for a fix?  That’s right, a doner kebab!  And now we see the truth hiding in these sinister shadows.  Someone is preparing to fill their larder with a mountain of beer and pot noodles, and it is the doner kebab pot noodle which will save them from having to ever leave their flat.  Ever.

And who would prepare for such a disastrous ending to the world if they weren’t in league with boffins who have the very information of the impending zombie invasion, I ask you!

The doner kebab pot noodle is the sign of the Zombpocalypse!

So repent your sins.  Or stock up on instant noodles, especially doner kebab flavoured ones.  And beer!  Don’t forget the beer.  Because the zombies are coming for your brains, and you really don’t want to have to leave your flat for anything when that happens!

And maybe grab a cricket bat too.  Just in case.

Beware The Camera!

Technology is great for a lot of things.  But one thing it’s bad for, is letting you forget the stupid stuff you’ve done.  Because these days, there are cameras everywhere.  In the skies.  On the phone of pretty much everyone around you.  On buildings.  Everywhere you go, cameras are trained on you, ready to catch you in your greatest moments of ignominy.

Take, for example, this Texas cop, who tasered himself while trying to bring in the bad guy:

So remember folks, while we all make mistakes, let’s hope that the next time you do something stupid, somehow, no one captures the moment.

Hamsterballin’ Again! Back In The Pink!

Yes, it’s that time again.  Time when I look at all of the negativity on my blog and ask myself WTF.  Time when we need a shot of fluffy bunnies and sunshine.  Time for some hamsterballin’!

Goose gets a run around in his pink hamster ball.

There’s almost nothing in this world that’ll put a smile on your face faster than a long-haired grey hamster named Goose running around in a sparkley pink plastic ball

Goose gets a run around in his pink hamster ball.

That cute face as he bonks into furniture.  The fur flying everywhere as momentum keeps him going when the ball stops.  You just can’t not smile.

Goose gets a run around in his pink hamster ball.

He’s a fuzzy little blur, comin’ at ya!  He’s so gosh darn cute.  There’s just nothing like a hamster running around in a hamster ball.  Hamsterballin’ is great fun!

It’s technology that lets him get out of his cage for a workout and a bit of fun in something different.  And it’s technology that lets you laugh your behind off.  It’s win-win!  :)

Geek Toys Make Strange Bedfellows – Now You Can Manually Control Your Roomba

It’s one of those weird Tinker Gnome idiotisms. (Did I just make up a word?) Why have one highly functional device when you can add more bells and whistles to defeat its purpose?

And so we have “Ron” Tajima of Japan who turns his completely automated robotic floor vacuum Roomba into a manually controlled unthinking robot driven by a Wii Fit.

Functional? No, not really. But hey, who cares? When it’s geek enough, you hardly need any reason to do it. Because sometimes in life you just have to have a little fun.