PARIS — Albert Hofmann, the mystical Swiss chemist who gave the world LSD, the most powerful psychotropic substance known, died Tuesday at his hilltop home near Basel, Switzerland. He was 102.

Albert Hofmann, the Father of LSD, Dies at 102 - New York Times

May 30th - June 1rst. Details will be posted to the website as they come in.

summercon 2008 | A new tradition of organization

This is some of the most hilarious gamer humor I've seen in a long time.

YouTube - Hitler's Ultimate Downfall - XBox Live

South of the city, in Tukwila, the baristas at Cowgirls Espresso wear sheer negligees and visible pink panties. It's the same story in any number of other suburban bars and drive-through stands, like the Natte Latte in Port Orchard or Moka Girls in Auburn - bikinis, racy lingerie, fetish clothing, and plenty of suggestively exposed flesh.

At Best Friend Espresso in Kenmore, at the northern end of Lake Washington, the outfits take their inspiration from Playboy-style sex fantasies. The staff will go for the naughty schoolgirl look one week, then don black-framed glasses the next to look like sexy secretaries.

Welcome to "sexpresso" - the latest coffee fad to hit America, in which the country's seemingly boundless fascination for Italian-style Java is combined with its equally boundless fascination for half-naked women.

Coming with a theme for a coffee bar is nothing new in America. In Los Angeles, there are cafes where you can buy second-hand books, get cut-price legal advice, throw pots, or listen to really, really bad live music provided by local bands. Strangely, nobody until now has thought of combining coffee with sex.

Sounds good to me..

Independent | Sexpresso coffee shops take Seattle by storm

They call them "boat raves" even though they're in the middle of the afternoon.

And it’s hard to imagine a more perfect confluence of money, skin and exhibitionism.

But not everyone is excited:

Some longtime regulars worry that the scene is becoming too big, too fast, and could be headed for calamity.

This type of thing has always been big on the Jersey Shore. Granted, it has a bit more of a family vibe than a Girls Gone Wild vibe, but that has always been present as well.

The great hotspot of old was Party Island. Basically a sand bar in the middle of Barnegat Inlet, it would surface every day during low tide. As the tide went out, every single weekend, several hundred boats would beach themselves on it's banks. At peak low tide, the boats would be fully out of the water, trapping visitors until the water rose again. The sandbar would be filled with BBQ grills, tents, fold out tables, lawn chairs, and whatever else anyone could get out there. My family was notable for being the first to bring off-road motorcycles to the island. I have many great childhood memories associated with this scenic spot by the lighthouse.

Sadly, Party Island has not existed for over a decade. When the inlet was re-engineered and dredged, the sand deposits that made up Party Island were eroded to the point where it no longer surfaces, saying at least a foot under water at all times.

The other hot spot, which is still in action, is Tices Shoal, located about 6 miles north of the Inlet and 3 miles south of Seaside Heights. At any given time, The Shoal may have anywhere between a few dozen to two thousand boats anchored on it's bay side. The location is extremely convenient for two reasons. First, the water is about 3ft deep for a very large area before dropping off to about 6ft, allowing a very wide range of boats to get up close to the shore within an area not as choppy as the rest of the bay. Second, there is a walking trail that connects the bay side to the ocean side, so the beach is only a brief walk away. The section of Island Beach State Park where Tices Shoal is located is directly at the point where you need an off-road pass to go any further by car, and has a big parking lot nearby, so it is possible for people to get there by land and join seafaring friends.

Water, Water, Everywhere, and Plenty to Drink

A bit of the old Ultraviolence.

Korova Milk Bar | East Village, NYC

The Lazy Drinker quite simply is a computer controlled mixed cocktail dispensing device. It's designed to hold 16 ingredients and multiple units can be chained together to get more. By using a series of pressurized valves, the ingredients are mixed automatically by your computer perfectly every time. With a database of over 5000 drinks, you'll have plenty to choose from.

The Lazy Drinker comes assembled in a cooler or as a do-it-yourself kit which can be installed in any manner you desire. Requiring only a Co2 tank and a PC with a serial port, the Lazydrinker can be set up anywhere: from a portable dispensing unit, to a bartop installed unit, to a refrigerator mounted unit, the possibilities are endless.

One of these must make an appearance PhreakNIC next year.

The Lazydrinker

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a prominent Austin lawyer while the two men were on a quail hunting expedition in South Texas on Saturday, firing shotgun pellets at the man while trying to aim for a bird, his spokeswoman confirmed today.

Mr. Cheney, a practiced hunter, sprayed the lawyer, Harry Whittington, with shotgun pellets on an outing on the Armstrong ranch in South Texas. Mr. Whittington, 78, was flown by helicopter to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition today, according to Michele Trevino, a hospital spokeswoman.

Its a good thing he wasn't hunting with Scalia this time out.

Cheney Accidentally Shoots a Fellow Hunter

] For more than a century, residents on Cheung Chau island
] erected tall bamboo towers covered with white steamed
] buns. People would scramble up the structures that looked
] like inverted ice cream cones and snatch the buns -
] offerings for wandering ghosts that the locals believe
] will bring peace.
] But the quirky ritual was banned after a bun tower
] toppled over in 1978, injuring 100 people.

] But the 26-year-old civil servant complained the new
] measures have made the game a little too safe.
]
] "It's more like rock-climbing," Chan said.
]
] "In the past, many people swarmed the mountain during
] the scramble. Now with just 12 people, the atmosphere
] just can't compare."
]
] "It's good to be safe but there are too few participants."

Hong Kong revives bun-snatching tradition after a 26-year break - Yahoo! News

] It's no surprise then that we can now confirm what the
] super-intelligent if somehat wobbly hacks at Vulture
] Central have known for years: alcohol makes you cleverer.

I'd like to accept this Nobel prize on behalf of my friends at Guinness and Bass...

File under: excuses

Beer makes you clever: official