Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs Has Died

Apple says Steve Jobs is dead, according to the Associated Press' Twitter feed. We'll add more information as we get it.

Update: Here's the official statement from Apple's Board of Directors:

CUPERTINO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Kids Reenact Ontario Leaders’ Debate

TORONTO - While too young to vote in Thursday's provincial election, an up-and-coming comedian from Hamilton is getting some laughs out of it.

Sam Barringer, who has been posting his amateur videos on YouTube for a couple of years now, pokes fun of the party leaders in his latest. "Ontario Votes 2011" features Sam and his younger brother Ben in a parody of the televised debate. Sam first appears as TVO host Steve Paikin, arching an eyebrow as he introduces Ben asking the question: "When you go to the drive-thru at McDonald's, what do you order?"

Sam then appears in a crisp blue suit as Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, making wild hand gestures and swinging his arms like a windmill as he talks about a "wind-turbine powered, clean and green McDonald's." McGuinty's animated hand gestures were the talk of social media on debate night. Donning a blond wig, Sam then plays NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who explains that her "brother's wife's mother's cousin's son" told her that his "friend's dad's nephew" got a paper cut playing McDonald's Monopoly. The line mocks a story Horwath told during the debate about her son going to the emergency room with a skateboarding injury.

Finally, Sam appears in a different suit as Tory Leader Tim Hudak, who holds up three fingers while saying Ontario can't afford "four more years" of McGuinty.

Curry Eating Competition Lands Two People in the Hospital

A restaurant in Edinburgh recently held a spicy curry eating competition that wound up being a "shambles," as several people got sick and two were hospitalized.

An American student was one of the regretful contestants who ate the "killer curry" for the charity competition. It will be her last time doing so:

"It was very painful and felt like I was being chainsawed in the stomach with hot sauce on the chainsaw.

I have learned my lesson and will never do it again and, in fact, I will be cutting down on my spice intake full stop."

You should probably cut down on doing charity stuff too. It never ends well.

The restaurant is now in the doghouse, with a local council member saying, "The owners owe a debt to the ambulance service, and I hope they'll find some way of making it up to them." I'm guessing offering them free curry will not do the trick.

[BBC, image via Shutterstock]

Study Says The Human Brain Is All About 'Winning'

A new study shows the human brain is all about winning. Literally.

By analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging in a new way, Scientists at Yale found for the first time that almost every area in the brain becomes active when winning or losing is at stake.

The researchers had study subjects play games like rock-paper-scissors. While previous work showed that specific reward centres in the brain were mainly activated during such activity, this new study shows that the majority of the brain was turned on.

The scientists say it makes sense because the brain's overall purpose is to maximize our chances of survival and reproduction. Therefore, reward should be important for all cognitive functions.

The data will appear in the October 6 issue of the journal Neuron. The researchers used a technique called multi-voxel pattern analysis to study fMRI data. Instead of comparing signal strength in specific regions of the brain, the new analysis scanned for patterns in brain activity.

Reward and punishment have long been associated with a region at the centre of the brain called the basal ganglia, which distributes the neurotransmitter dopamine. But the Yale researches wondered if some brain regions were being left out. Turns out they were correct.

"We aren't saying that the dopamine network is not the core system of reward processing in the brain," said Timothy Vickery, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the study, in a press release. "Our novel point is that this information makes it way throughout the entire brain in a much more far-reaching manner than previously thought."

What do you know. WINNING! Perhaps Charlie Sheen is more prescient than we realized.

[Eurekalert]

This Automated Pizza Vending Machine Has a Built-In TV

Behold, the ne plus ultra of American innovation: Pizzametry, an automated machine capable of making 150 different types of pizza in mere three minutes, while you watch TV. Let us marvel at the pneumatic glory of Pizzametry spinning dough, slicing pepperonis, squirting sauce, and sprinkling cheese.

Pizzametry has a flat-screen TV mounted on it, so you can learn about your pizza and watch a music video or two while you wait. Someday, all Americans will be born with Pizzametry machines glued to their faces. We'll never have to expend energy to cook or entertain again.

Pizzametry is not the world's first pizza machine. It is, however, the world's most aggressively American pizza machine. Pizzametry inventor Puzant Khachadourian writes on his website that came to New York "virtually penniless" fifty years ago, "a Horatio Alger story waiting to happen." He enjoyed a fruitful career as a jeweller, but his dream is to provide fresh pizza and pizza-related entertainment to wearied travellers in airport terminals, ailing senior citizens at hospitals, and noble servicemen on Army bases. Long live Puzant Khachadourian! He is the American dream.

[Pizzametry, Gothamist]

Video: British Child Sings Minaj's "Super Bass"

Delicate British princess Sophia Grace Brownlee covers the sh*t out of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass.”



[ratsoff]

Cops Lure Fugitives With Free TV Offer

Instead of going home with $75 and a plasma TV, fugitives in Chicago were locked up.

In Operation C.W. Marketing, the Cook County Sheriff's Office sent 10,000 offenders wanted for a variety of reasons -- from unpaid child support, traffic offenses and violent felonies -- invitations to take part in electronics testing. The invites said that in exchange for their feedback, they would get $75 and could keep the electronic device they tested.

The invitations went to the most recent address for those on the wanted list, and while thousands were returned as undeliverable, more than 50 fugitives made appointments to take part.

"As the offenders pulled up to the warehouse, smiling undercover officers headed to their cars while carrying empty boxes for plasma TVs and video game systems, creating the appearance of a festive, gift-filled visit. The fugitives were then warmly welcomed by other officers wearing bright T-shirts, surrounded by signs and balloons," police said in a release.

"Once inside, the offender's identity was confirmed and fake celebrations continued, along with a picture. As the target posed for a photo, officers moved in for the arrest."

The arrests were made between Sept. 17 and 24, police announced Tuesday. Police said the ruse resulted in 102 arrests, with 106 warrants cleared -- 15 felonies, 72 misdemeanours and 15 from civil courts. The county also collected more than $5,000 in fees from towing vehicles as part of the operation. Sheriff Thomas Dart has made it a mandate of his department to capture fugitives and has listed 44,000 people on a wanted list on his office's website.

Speeder Caught By His Own Cellphone

GENEVA - A Swiss motorist used his mobile phone to record himself driving on an autoroute near Geneva at 320 km an hour, nearly three times the speed limit, police said on Wednesday.

But the offence was only uncovered six months later when the 28-year-old was questioned in another case and investigators found the images still on the phone.

Some shots were focused on the speedometer of his car, a Bentley Continental, according to a police spokesman. Others showed the road, revealing where he was, and the phone’s timer recorded the date and the time — just before 3:30 in the morning local time last April.

Police said the driver, whom they declined to name, probably took the shots to impress his friends. His licence was confiscated and he is free on bail awaiting trial.

New Study May Suggest Why Men Eat More When Ladies Are Around

New research promises to shed light on why we eat how we eat, and whether or not the gender of our dining companions really influences our food choices that much.

The results of the small study will appear in the Journal of Applied Psychology, and some of them may surprise you.

Not surprisingly, women eat less when they're around men, presumably due to social conventions that require us to be delicate little songbirds around men or because we have an evolutionary drive to one day team up with them to enter Finland's Wife Carrying Championships.

What researchers found interesting, however, was the fact that when men eat with women, they tend to load up their plates with more calories than they'd snarf down around other dudes. When men eat with other men, they put an average of 952 calories on their plates. When the ladies were around, though, the face-stuffing began. Men eating with women selected an average of 1162 calories worth of food. Two hundred more calories of food per meal, at least two meals per day, seven days per week... if men ate only with women and always consumed 200 more calories per meal around them and did not exercise, according to our calculations, they'd gain about 125,000 pounds per year. Why is this?

Participants in the study claimed that they had not consciously taken their dining partner's gender into consideration when loading up on food, which means that something subconscious is driving them to chow down. And since this is the kind of thing that evolutionary psychologists love to take and run with for several frenzied miles, we figured we'd try our hands at coming up with some possible caveman-based bullshit explanations for this behavior ourselves.

So, why do men eat more calories when they're around women than when they're around men?

• Men tend to consume more calories around women because they know that women will eventually ask them to go cave-shopping, and men hate cave-shopping. Eating extra food around them is a subconscious attempt to gain enough weight that the caveladies are embarrassed to take them out in public.
• Prehistoric times were very dangerous for people, and filled with predators. Men eat more around women because they want the women to know that if a predator ever came up to them and brandished a switchblade, the men could eliminate the threat by eating the predator.
• Cavemen were chronically embarrassed about their lack of muscle mass, caveladies refused to mate with men deemed too scrawny. Thus eating large amounts of food in front of caveladies was a way for them to cram for the muscle mass exam and make themselves as mate-with-able as possible in as short a time as possible.
• Men eat more around women because they have a natural drive to want the women around them to be slender and therefore beautiful, so they hog the food.
• Oral fixation. Yes, in a cavegay way.
• In olden days, mammoth eating contest winners were regarded very highly in society, like the doctors or lawyers of today. Men eat more around women because they want women to think that they might someday win some sort of binge eating contest and thus be better providers.
• Bad manners.

[NPR]

Women Can’t Use Photos In Saudi Campaign Ads

Women may have the right to vote and run in Saudi Arabia's municipal elections in 2015 — however, female candidates won't be allowed to have their pictures on campaign posters.

According to Emirates 24/7, Sheikh Abdullah Al Manei, a member of Saudi Arabia's supreme scholars council, has said, "Women will not be allowed to publish their pictures in streets, trade centres and other public places in their campaigns for the next round of municipal elections." He explains, "Voters, whether they are men or women, need not see the face of the candidate when they vote because they will vote for the person for his or her views and experience to serve the public interest." Female candidates will be allowed to use their pictures in dedicated women's halls, and they can use their names and personal information to campaign.

Relatedly, although women will now be able to serve in Saudi Arabia's appointed parliament, the Shura, they won't be able to sit with men. Al Manei says, "Women can join Shura according to legal conditions which are based on the need for them not to mix with men in the council…each gender will have to be seated in the floor level allocated for them." Both these decisions show that although Saudi Arabia is taking some steps toward including women in government, longstanding laws against gender mixing make such inclusion practically difficult. Are women really going to be equal members of parliament if they can't sit on the same floor as men? The fact that women's faces can't appear on campaign posters may spare women the looks-based scrutiny they often endure otherwise, but the election won't really be fair if men can post their photos and women can't. And the ruling suggests other problems down the line — will female municipal leaders be allowed to address their constituencies? Can they really lead if their interactions with the men in their districts are so limited? Even if women are allowed to vote and serve in government, they won't have equal political participation until they can move freely in public the way men can.

[Emirates 24/7]

Study Finds College Men Are Lazy And Shiftless Compared To College Women

Chances are that if you're a woman and you're in college and you work really hard to boost your GPA, turn up regularly at all of your extra-curricular activities, and generally try to make as good on your crazy expensive investment as you can, there's a college man out there playing the latest iteration of Madden football and totally not giving a crap.

In an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, President of the College of St. Benedict MaryAnn Baenninger relates the conclusions she's drawn from national data and from research at her own institution concerning the disparity between male and female students throughout their college careers. Baenninger explains that while women have unprecedented access to higher education, women and men still begin college with "different self concepts." She continues,

Their orientation toward academic work and leadership differs, and they participate differently in what we call engaged learning. Research suggests that college has little impact on these differences, or on helping students take them into account.

Three major differences between the college men and women have emerged through Baenninger's research: while women are more likely to underestimate their abilities than their academic performance suggests, men are more likely to overestimate their more meager output; men spend more time at leisure activities, i.e. video games and sports, than women; women have higher GPA's through their college careers than men "even when the sexes show equivalent aptitude on standardized tests."

It seems that college men are...what's that really popular word right now for people who think they do and deserve more than they actually do and deserve? Oh, yeah — entitled. Baenninger points to familiar inequalities such as the dearth of women in science-related fields and the similar lack of men are in teaching fields, but her most alarming observation is that the push for post gender colleges "didn't plan well for a society that taught one sex that it had to work harder to gain access, and the other sex that access was guaranteed." As women struggled to gain equal access to higher education and professional careers, it would seem that men gorged themselves on frozen pizzas and created games that just ooze with leisure and entitlement, like ultimate Frisbee. The result is a system of higher education in which the majority of women believe that they have to work twice as hard for the same access that men take for granted.

But never mind the lassitude of male collegians — all this hard work for women must naturally pay, i.e. in dolla dolla bills, off. While college men lounge around their dorms or join a flag football team or slap together last-minute term papers, college women are working with an eye to the job market and the prospect of out-earning their male counterparts.

Women, relax. We'll still out earn you by like 75 percent.

[Chronicle Of Higher Education/Image via Milos Stojanovic/Shutterstock.com]

Did Melissa McCarthy Have A Career Before Her Fame?

Could it be? An incarnation of Melissa McCarthy that I didn't yet know about? Here I thought I got on the Melissa McCarthy Is Awesome Train early when she was on Gilmore Girls, but I had no idea that at the same time she was also recording ridiculous video blogs under the name Marbles Hargrove. Here's a thought: now that Melissa has skyrocketed into the public eye, do you think we'll get a Marbles movie within the next couple of years? (I do. I'd even put money on it.)

[Via Best Week Ever]

New Pill Promises To Eradicate Gray Hair

Cosmetics companies have scored another victory in the neverending battle against aging naturally. L'Oreal claims it's developing a pill that will prevent gray hair entirely. All you have to do is take a take a pill with potentially risky side effects for the rest of your life!

The pill, which is scheduled to become available in 2015, contains and "undisclosed" fruit extract that behaves like an enzyme that protects pigmentation production in hair. Unfortunately you'll have to make a call about taking the drug long before you get a chance to try out the Anderson Cooper look. According to MSNBC, the pill can't alter existing gray hairs, it can only prevent strands from losing their pigment. L'Oreal says you'll have to take the pill every day for at least 10 years if you want to ward off gray hairs, and as soon as you stop taking the drug you'll lose pigmentation.

Predictably, scientists are being total worry warts, and are already asking silly questions like "How is it going to affect the skin and the organs?" Was it not clear that this pill CURES GRAY HAIR? Who cares about organs functioning properly when you can eradicate the biggest problem affecting older people? (According to hair dye commericals.)

Experts also note that there's no way to know if you'll go gray in your 30s or 40s (or possibly never) so some people might wind up taking the drug when they don't even need it. Yet, Hillary Johnson, director of dermatologic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Dermatology points out that some people have already resigned themselves to popping a pill every day to maintain their tresses:

"Lots of men take Propecia tablets to prevent balding and they take that for the rest of their lives. They would have to be a highly-motivated group of people, but broadly, that motivation is going to be hard to come by."

Motivation shouldn't be a problem. People have already been scared into injecting toxins into their faces and applying creams every night to ward off wrinkles. Even though people can already dye their hair (and some feel a mane of silvery hair looks badass) it shouldn't be too hard for L'Oreal to convince consumers that they need to start treatment for grayness rather than living with this debilitating condition.

[MSNBC/Image via Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock]

Couple Gets Married For The 100th Time

Lauren and David Blair of Tennessee married in 1984, but they've renewed their vows 99 times since. They now hold the Guinness World Record for "Most Marriage Vow Renewals by the Same Couple," and presumably friends have stopped sending them a kitchen appliance each time. Lauren says, "We knew we were meant for each other and wanted to continually share that vow experience. I love to look into David's eyes as he is repeating his vows. I know that this man will love me until the day I die." She adds, "Of course, David will tell you that he does it for the honeymoons!"

Video: Flower Girl Doing The Opposite Of What She's Supposed To

Little flower girl takes it upon herself to clean up after her messy sister who seems to think it’s okay to go around dropping flower petals everywhere while people are trying to have a wedding.

[sayomg]

Penguin Lands On British Shore

Happy Feet just cannot seem to get back home!

A lost penguin has been reportedly spotted off the coast of Portsmouth’s Southsea beach a few days ago. Believed to be an African penguin, experts say it likely broke away from its raft in search of food and got lost along the way.

“I’m convinced it was a penguin,” onlooker Joanne Gordon told The Sun. “It zoomed off after about five minutes. I know climate change is in the news at the moment, but penguins in Britain is getting ridiculous.”

The African penguin is native to South Africa, meaning that if what the beachgoers spotted was not just a very wet stuffed animal, the wayward waddler is about 6,000 miles away from home.

[sun]

Video: Kids Cover Metallica's "Enter Sandman"

The Mini Band — a group of 8-10 year old musicians — do Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” justice at the Bucklebury Beer Festival.

[reddit]

The Occupy Wall Street Protest Goes National

The Occupy Wall Street protest that began three weeks ago in Lower Manhattan has spread to Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and many cities in between. Here are some images from "Occupy" protests all over the country from the past few days.

Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., Who Revolutionized TV Ratings, Dies at 92

Arthur C. Nielsen Jr., who served as president and then chairman of television ratings powerhouse A.C. Nielsen Company, died Monday from complications related to Parkinson's disease. He was 92.

Although his father started the company, Nielsen worked for A.C. Nielsen his entire adult life after a stint in the army during in World War II.

And while he didn't invent the television rating system (that honor again belonged to his father) he was savvy enough to turn it—and the company's many other endeavors—into profitable and powerful institutions that we still rely on today.

He retired in 1983. Today everyone who ever looked at a television ratings report will share in his family's grief.

Sesame Street to Debut Impoverished Muppet

This Sunday, Sesame Street will introduce a new muppet during the premiere of their new special called "Growing Hope Against Hunger." Lily, a 7-year-old "food insecure" Muppet, is a realistic-yet-empathetic character that the show hopes will help personify the voice of the the 17 million Americans who often times cannot afford to eat. Sesame Workshop's senior vice president for outreach and educational practices, Jeanette Betancourt, spoke to the New York Times about the careful consideration put into Lily's mannerisms:

"We felt it was best to have this new Muppet take this on in a positive way and a healthy way. She wants to talk about this topic because she knows it will help many other families and children, but it isn't an easy topic to talk about in the first place."

For now, Lily is only scheduled to appear in this Sunday's broadcast, when she encounters Elmo, Bert, Grover, and other Sesame Street regulars (as well as Brad Paisley!) in the community garden.

[ABC]

Real-Life Timon And Pumba

After seeing each other through a chicken wire fence dividing their pens, a baby meerkat and micro-pig born weeks apart became best friends. Their caretaker says, 'All they do each day is playfully run around. They are very cute together.'

Timon is really outgoing and always looking to explore the world. He's interested in anything new, and having a big pig next to him was obviously an exciting thing.

Pumbaa is definitely more reserved and slopes about the place in an unenthusiastic manner much like pigs often do.

Kelly Shambly, 24, their caretaker said: 'They are just like their namesakes - they have a real care free philosophy.'

[found via dailymail.co.uk]

Video: 1,000-Stick Domino-Snake

What sorcery is this? Okay, so it's not sorcery. Apparently it works by tension, and when released, they just start flying apart.

[found via reddit.com]

Pet-Food Brand Makes TV Commercial Only Dogs Can Hear

Nestlé Purina PetCare tosses Fido a bone in a European TV spot for its Beneful pet food that features a high-pitched sound, like a dog whistle, that only dogs can hear. It's touted as an effort to capture canines' attention. Given the discretionary income of the average Shiatsu, it hardly seems worth the effort. This is apparently a first, although companies have previously tried dog-food-scented billboards, and cats have their own Rhett & Link commercial with some crazy lady speaking feline to promote a kitty kennel in Los Angeles. I hear it's a real fleabag hotel. As for Nestlé's pitch to pooches, it's not such a stretch. We humans have been jumping at the sound of our masters' voices in TV ads for years. Sorry, I tried not to be an utter wag in this item, but resisting temptation proved too ruff.

Deadly Melon Death Toll Reaches 18

So far 18 people have died from killer cantaloupes tainted with listeria, out of at least 100 cases. Now, the good news: most of the death melons are out of the food supply by now. Deep breaths.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Celebrities Help Students Get Up For School

SEATTLE, -- A non-profit is teaming with U.S. cities including Seattle to record celebrity wake-up calls for students to ensure they get up in time for school.

The Get Schooled Foundation, a non-profit affiliated with the Gates Foundation, said celebrities including Jesse McCartney, Nicki Minaj, Baron Davis and Wiz Khalifa have recorded wake-up messages students in certain districts can sign up to receive, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.

The foundation teamed with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's office, the Alliance for Education and Seattle Public Schools to provide the calls as part of the city's "Be There Get There" campaign.

"Woody Allen said that 95 percent of success in life is just showing up, and it's true," McGinn said in announcing the campaign Monday. "But it really helps to have some friends helping you out, and that's what we're trying to do."

The city is aiming for 80 percent of its students to miss fewer than 10 days of school by 2013, a dramatic improvement from the 62 percent recorded in 2009.

Video: What A Bridge Demolition Actually Looks Like

Don't expect a big explosion. This time lapse video shows how to demolish a video with finesse and patience, over night. It was taken in England on April 9, using a Canon 5Dmk2 over the course of 18 hours, taking 4,000 images that were assembled in QuickTime.

A Bridge Too Far from James Miller on Vimeo.

Disney To Produce 4 More Films In 3D

Beauty and the Beast. The Little Mermaid. Finding Nemo. Monsters Inc. Just like The Lion King, Disney is going to ruin even more animated gems from their catalogue with 3D. Ugh. If they touch Dumbo, I'm unloading my imaginary stockpile of molotov cocktails.

[Deadline]