Even more oddities spotted in the news

[robkelk]

GAINAX files for bankruptcy.

Looking at the comments, it appears nobody remembers anything they did before or after Evangelion... Ah, well. At least I have the DVDs of Gunbuster, Nadia, Mahoromatic, Abenobashi, and Gurren Lagann.

EDIT: Anime News Network has English summaries of statements from Studio Gainax and Studio Khara (the latter being Hideaki Anno's current studio and holder of at least the Evangelion property rights).

[robkelk]

Quoting a friend of mine, "Looks like the final Gainax bounce was a cheque."

[classicdrogn]

Damn, that burn was like

Sarah Conner's nightmare

[robkelk]

Spam blocklist SORBS closed by its owner, Proofpoint

The Register has been informed the service's hosting and operating costs are at a level that make it infeasible for an individual to take over.

Sources tell The Register that offers to acquire SORBS are certain to arrive – from spammers who have over the years expressed an interest in controlling the service for their own nefarious ends.

[robkelk]

Hey, wait a minute. A Hollywood TV producer has a soul?

As I spoke with her, another production head approached, offering congratulations and reiterating the plan. But he added, "If things get too crazy at home and we haven't finished, just bail." I told him my wife felt we were still in the early phases of labour, and we should still have time. He leaned in, gave me a hug, and whispered in my ear, "Just bail."

I was at a loss for words — studios aren't obligated to accommodate actors in such situations. I've heard terrible stories of actors unable to attend births, weddings and even funerals due to rigid shooting schedules. Yet here, amid the bustling set of a multimillion-dollar shoot, this person was giving me permission to prioritize my family. It was a heartfelt gesture that I'll never forget.

[robkelk]

False Alert! Noam Chomsky is still alive!

"Noam Chomsky has gotta be like wow these assholes really learned nothing I said about not trusting unverified media sources," wrote X user Hannah Riley.

But, yeah, we really need to teach people how to think critically... since the schools aren't doing that any more.

[Bob Schroeck]

New monolith in Nevada

[robkelk]

Candidate runs in a contested (not acclaimed) byelection, receives zero votes.

"As long as I have the right and the privilege to get zero votes in an election, then we are truly in a democracy," he said.

[Bob Schroeck]

Someone has stolen the sword Durandal from where it's been wedged in a cliff face for 1300 years.

[robkelk]

Windows Notepad gets spell check. Only took 41 years

Sorry, Nanoha, it's actually spelling check.

[classicdrogn]

South Korean city hall service robot overworked to suicide

link

Let's all hope it gets an amazing next life in another world with protagonist powers.

[Dartz]

They'll have to replace the robots with human workers.

When robots kill themselves it's an expensive replacement. When humans do it, you have dead-peasant insurance funds.

[robkelk]

Drawn to Mars, these researchers found themselves in Yukon instead

I knew they shoulda taken that left toin at Albuquerque...

[DHBirr]

Toxic Literature (no, I don't mean vicious propaganda....)

tl;dr: The pretty colors of Victorian book-binding often came from poisons. One woman read an article about such, and realized an old book she'd bought thirty years before looked just that colorful. When she sent it to the Poison Book Project  at the University of Delaware,

“Congratulations,” the email she received said, “you have the dubious honor of sending us the most toxic book yet.”

The Project developed after a library conservator was repairing a book, and noticed something curious about the way the pigment was flaking.

“It was a serendipity moment. I thought that maybe we should test this pigment and make sure it’s not full of arsenic.”

It turned out the book was full of arsenic. “Really quite a lot of arsenic,” she says.

[hazard]

A slight rephrasing.

Lots of pigments that have been used across history are exceedingly toxic.

They were not intended to poison the reader... but that does not mean they did not.

[robkelk]

What is shawarma? Is it good for explaining weather forecasts?

[Labster]

What is shawarma? Is it good for explaining weather forecasts?

Can you eat it?

[classicdrogn]

I have heard it's delicious, but dietary restrictions may apply...

[Bob Schroeck]

And don't forget about global shawarming...

[classicdrogn]

Old news, but suitably odd:

Exhumation finds well-preserved Salvador Dali, moustache intact

[robkelk]

This St. John's trans man thought it wasn't possible for him to get pregnant. Then it happened

"Extremely small chance" is not the same as "no chance".

[robkelk]

Author of Flashforward flashed back to make WordStar 7 available again

[Bob Schroeck]

Elon Musk sues advertisers for not advertising on Xitter, a year after he told them to "fuck off".

[classicdrogn]

Making whatsisface from Disney Dr. Who look good for only crying about it after audiences unimpressed at the character assassination and preaching took his advice to turn the TV off and go touch grass, there.

[robkelk]

It only took a half-century, less a few years...

Star Wars finally dubbed into Ojibwe