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Let’s face it, some good ideas just aren’t realized the way they were meant to be and fell disastrously short of expectations. As Time Magazine’s 50 Worst Inventions list proves, some ideas didn’t end up so great. The list of annoyances, ill-fated novelty items, and bad reformulations includes Microsoft Bob, New Coke, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Honegar, Clippy, Smell-o-Vision, and heck, even Farmville.

Microsoft Bob and Clippy are probably Microsoft’s most annoying contributions to the world of PC software. Microsoft Bob was made to be helpful, packing a bunch of assistants to help PC users; Clippy was the most iconic of the bunch. Good intentions turned a little awry when letters were suddenly hijacked with an “It looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?” Also, Microsoft Bob left an enduring bug bear legacy: Comic Sans, the font made for Bob.

The New Coke was marketed as a “newer, sweeter” version of the popular cola in 1985, but marketers soon learned a valuable lesson: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (the New Coke was pulled out after 3 horrible months in the market). Another food item that made Time’s list is Honegar. As the name suggests, it’s a mash up between honey and apple cider vinegar. The product was less than palatable, though recent studies have attested to honey and apple cider vinegar’s antioxidant contents.

Betamax, a casualty in the early format wars, also made the list. It went up against the VHS, but as the Betamax was rushed into production, it fell short of facing up to VHS’s 2-hr video recording.

And yeah, Farmville was included in the list. According to Time, Farmville succeeds to be both mindless and addicting, not to mention distracting to office workers.

The list also includes ill-conceived inventions (Smell-o-Vision, Vibrating Ab Belt, and Fake Ponytail), aesthetics-challenged vehicles (Pontiac Aztek), and pesticides (DDT and Agent Orange), among others.

via [ TIME ]

According to scientists, Iceland (and the rest of Europe) should brace themselves for another bout of volcano problems in the near future. Scientists have noticed volcanic activity in the vicinity of another volcano, Katla. The said volcano is east of Eyjafjallajökull and is larger and more powerful.

The University College of London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction released an initial research paper, indicating that Katla’s seismic activity over the last ten years is indicative of an impending eruption. The paper said that Katla’s activity is not linked to the recent Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud incident. It said further, “We conclude that given the high frequency of Katla activity, an eruption in the short term is a strong possibility. It is likely to be preceded by new earthquake activity. Presently there is no unusual seismicity under Katla.”

Iceland President Ólafur Grímsson has issued a warning to the other European governments to prepare for the possible eruption.

via [ MSNBC ]

If you’re one of those people who are a little scared to visit Madam Tussauds because the wax figures look so lifelike, then this news bit should give you some comfort that you have every right to be scared. Ozzy Osbourne took a trip to Madam Tussauds in New York and did what Al Roker did back in 2009. He posed as his own wax replica and scared those who having their pictures taken. He also played around President Obama’s figure in the Oval Office while Sharon Osbourne posed beside Ozzy’s wax figure (the real one).

The prank was done to promote Ozzy’s upcoming album, Scream, slated for release this month. After the prank, Ozzy laughed it the prank off with his wife Sharon.

via [ Daily Mail ]

X51A Waverider, the Air Force’s experimental aircraft was recently tested and broke the record for hypersonic flight, going at Mach 6 for more than three minutes. You read that right: Mach 6, or 6 times the speed of sound.

The US Air Force, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne collaborated for the X51A Waverider program.

The X51A Waverider was attached to a B-53 Stratofortress then released just off the coast of southern California. It was equipped with a solid rocket booster that accelerated the Waverider to 4.5 Mach then the scramjet engine kicked in to get the craft to Mach 6. Charlie Brink, X51A program manager of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio said, “We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines.”

According to Joe Vogel, director of hypersonics at Boeing, the technology will serve as a “foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation.”

The Air Force will test the three other X51A cruisers it has in the fall.

via [ Huffington Post ]

Yes folks, proof that the Gaydar does exist has been found in a recent study. Dutch researchers studied homosexuals’ built in radar or “sixth sense” that enables them to spot other gay people in a room.

The researchers tested a group of 42 men and women, checking whether there are differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals in terms of where they focus their attention when faced with a crisis. The group was shown a variety of pictures – outlines of rectangles and squares with smaller shapes inside.

We’re wired to take in the bigger picture so it can be a little confusing when looking at a rectangle filled with squares. When asked about the smaller shapes, most people are apparently easily fooled into answering rectangles instead of squares. During the study, the heterosexuals were quicker to answer but were not very accurate, while the homosexuals were slower to answer but were more accurate. This result suggests that homosexuals can see both the big picture and the little details.

“This is the first time that scientific proof has been found for the existence of a gaydar mechanism amongst homosexuals. This perceptual skill allows homosexuals to recognise other gay people faster and we think it’s because they are much more analytic than heterosexuals,” said researcher Dr. Lorenza Colzato from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

According to the study, this perceptual style was adopted to make it easier for homosexuals to find like-minded friends and partners.

via [ Daily Mail UK ]

Admit it; it sucks to deal with rejection. Dumpees have to deal with various levels of hell to move on and then there’s emotional pain and so on and so forth. Well, not Kevin Cotter. His wife walked out and left him to deal with her wedding dress. Following his sister-in-law’s suggestion, he went on to find 101 uses for his ex-wife’s wedding dress.

Some might think that this is some sort of revenge on Kevin’s part but looking at what uses he’d found (mosquito net, yoga mat, table cloth, dish rag, oil pan, ice pack, and sports event banner, among many others), it’s really a very creative form of catharsis.

Sports Event Banner

Dish Rag

Scare Crow

Gas Cap

via [ Huffington Post ]

There are simply days when you think you’ve seen everything and then boom! Something totally baffling blindsides you. Enter today’s sucker puncher: Selfridges & Co.’s Body Perks Nipple enhancers.

According to the retailer, the “natural look is back,” though it’s a little disconcerting why you would need fake nipples to look natural. When I think about it though, maybe the manufacturer felt that some women are uncomfortable going Full Monty on their bras.

At any rate, there you have it, another device aiming for the natural look. It comes in 2 colors, blush and mocha, and it retails for around US$ 14 (£9.95).

via [ Gizmodo ]

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has released a special feature showcasing the 2010 Xtreme Eating Awards. Nine restaurant chains were awarded; nope, not for their promotion of healthy eating habits, but for their high calorie menus. Nine restaurants were hailed (it might be more appropriate to say they were dishonored) as calorie champions in this year’s awards.

Five Fleshy Guys is a growing chain that serves burgers, fries, hot dogs, cola, and the occasional water and veggie burger. Their burgers weigh in at whopping 700 calories without the toppings, beating out McDonald’s Big Mac (540 calories) and Quarter Pounder (410) by a lot. The Five Guys’ large fries contains 1,460 calories. Enough said.

The Cheesecake Factory’s Chocolate Tower Trouble Cake can be aptly described as a mighty slab of cake. It doesn’t just contain 1,670 calories, but it also packs 48 grams of saturated fat (if you’re curious, that’s two and a half days’ worth). The Pasta Carbonara from the Factory’s menu also took some flak for its 2,500 calories and 85 grams of saturated fat.

Well, you can probably guess what the rest of the list has to offer their diners. With 30 percent of young Americans are overweight for the army, one out of three children and two out of three adults obese or overweight, the food police are certainly cracking down on the usual suspects.

via [ CSPI Net ]

The Taylor Glacier is normal enough for a gigantic chunk of solid ice, except that it spews out a red waterfall. Located in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, the Taylor Glacier was first discovered in 1911. The bleeding phenomenon was first thought to be caused by algae, but was later found to be microbes that are millions of years old. As it turns out, the glacier was once over a body of water that contained ancient microbes. As the millennia passed, the microbes evolved on their own, independent from the outside world.

Well, as it happened, the primordial soup of microbes made the lake chockfull of iron, giving the water the biblical plague-like color.

via [ TreeHugger ]

A spectacular image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope was posted today, showing what remains of a star that had gone supernova. The image is a composite of Chandra’s X-ray (shown in blue) and Hubble’s optical data (shown in yellow and purple).

Researchers observed N49, the remnants of the supernova, for thirty hours, and found evidence of a bullet-like object at the lower right corner of the image. The said bullet is said to be moving away from a bright source at the upper left. Researchers have several explanations for this phenomenon; the most popular of which is that the said bright spots are “neutron stars with extremely powerful magnetic fields.” Neutron stars are often created in supernovas.

The bullet is moving at 5 million miles an hour, away from the bright source at the upper left. The bright source is said to be a soft gamma ray repeater (SGR), a phenomena also associated with supernova explosions.

The researchers determined the age of the supernova using new Chandra data, pegging the event caught on the N49 image to have happened 5,000 years ago. The energy during the explosion is said to be double that of an average supernova. With those pieces of info, they think that the original supernova was due to the collapse of a giant star.

I’m no scientist, but if several years of reading comic books provide enough “research,” then I could hypothesize that the bullet is probably an escape pod for the infant last survivor of a planet.

via [ Harvard - Chandra ]