Apparently Hell is getting its own airline, and it needed some specially designed seats that would be as uncomfortable as possible.

Steven and I actually discussed these seats on last night’s episode of  Braindead Techcast, but I honestly couldn’t stop staring at these hideous contraptions once the show ended.

The SkyRider seats will be unveiled next week at Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas trade show and are designed with low-cost airlines in mind, and will have no more than 23-inches between the seat backs.  Here they are in all their hideous glory.

So, apparently you’ll be flying in a nearly standing position, with no under seat storage and I’m assuming the triangular thing would be your flotation device as there is no way the seat would work.

And how are any larger-than-average people going to fly in these “seats”?  I’m not just talking weight, but also tall people.  As you can see by the woman in the picture, her legs angle considerably, and the longer the legs, the more severe the angle will be.  Seeing as I’m 6’4″, I can only imagine the pain I would be in after even a very short flight.

I understand that airlines want to maximize their profits, but there is a point where the old saying that passengers are treated like cattle gets just a bit too realistic.

Hopefully airlines will think about this carefully before they purchase them, but somehow I see these showing up in our futures, and we should all be horrified.

Yet another week of Moronic Monday where my head closes in on exploding due to the tremendous amount of stupidity in the world.

Enjoy this week’s edition of Moronic Monday!

• Football Player Gets Hair Insured for $1 Million – Neatorama
• Listen To A Drawing With The Rec & Play Pens – CrunchGear
• Meat smoker texts you when your meat is done – SlipperyBrick
• Extreme Superhero Chest Tattoo – Geeks are Sexy
• Lil’ Vampire Pacifier for Your Favorite Bloodsucking Baby – Neatorama
• The MacBook-Shaped Cutting Board – Geek O System
• Office Saddle Seat – Random Good Stuff
• ‘World’s Rarest and Most Expensive’ car wax – gizmag
• 10 Pictures Real Life Super Heroes - The Inquisitr
• Witness airlines’ horrifying vision for the future of air travel – DVICE

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You do realize that thanks to the Internet that just about every piece of information is available at your fingertips 24/7, right? Of course you do, and that’s because you have a brain.

Apparently the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department and two California television stations aren’t all that bright.

It would seem that the sheriff’s department released a two page flyer warning parents about the dangers of a new mascot for pedophiles everywhere named Pedobear. They warned that if you see him depicted anywhere that you should question the motivations of anyone connected to the image, and be sure to keep your kids safe. They even got television stations such as KSBY to run stories to warn people of the area about this rising danger.

While I have made it very clear on this blog how I feel about pedophiles, there is one small problem with this whole thing … Pedobear is a joke that was born out of the infamous 4chan message board.

Pedobear has become a way on the site to denote that you have posted something potentially creepy about young children, and it has now made its way out to the rest of the Internet. It has become a well-known Internet meme, and even if you aren’t familiar with it, a simple Google search for “Pedobear” returns multiple pages explaining the joke.

The sheriff’s department contacted Valleywag and explained they knew it was a joke, but yet they included real department phone numbers on the flyer to report crimes, and that sure doesn’t help the news reports that went out that now put egg on everyone’s face.

To be perfectly honest, I think the department is trying to cover its behind for falling for a joke. If you look at the flyer below (click the images for larger versions) you have to wonder why they put the dispatch and sex offender division’s phone numbers. Did they send out corrections to the TV stations?

No, I think folks the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department fell for an Internet joke that they could have easily researched in about three seconds. Even more disturbing it that news clip above. The news didn’t research this? Oh good job.

Again, I have no love for pedophiles, and children should be warned about them, but how many innocent people who laugh at about Pedobear will now get funny looks from their neighbors? How many phone calls will come in reporting someone as a pedophile when there is no evidence other than the bear? If this was a joke release, whomever came up with it should be fired immediately. It’s one thing when it is an Internet meme, but a whole different thing when law enforcement puts their official stamp on it.

Oh well, at least Pedobear lives on to even a wider audience now.

A school in Trphy Club, Texas is apparently incapable to tell the difference between grieving and pot smoking, and this landed a student with a three day suspension.

Last Sunday Kyler Robertson lost his father to a stabbing. By Tuesday he asked his mother if he could return to school at Byron Nelson High School that he could be around his friends during this tough time. While his mother was against this initially, she finally agreed, but it made him late for school that day.

Due to his being late he had to head to the office for a tardy slip, and this is where his troubles began.

Apparently school officials noted his blood shot eyes, and claim that the could smell marijuana on his clothes.  Mr. Robertson was informed of their suspicions, and that he would be suspended from school for three days.  His mother as called to be informed of the situation, and she pleaded with them to understand he was grieving.  They informed her if she got a drug test within the next two hours that showed negative that he would be readmitted to the school.

Kristy Fritz, Kyler’s mother, took her son for the drug test within the allotted time, and it came back negative for the presence of any drugs in his system.  They gave the test results on Wednesday afternoon, and he was allowed to attend classes.

As if all this wasn’t bad enough, the suspension will remain on his permanent record unless they go through an appeals process to have it removed.  In an interview with KDFW Fox of Dallas, district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said she could give the school district’s side of the story, but that due to federal privacy laws they can not discuss it.  She went on to state that the school was sorry for the family’s loss, and they are there for any family in that situation as a resource.

Excuse me?  How about you apologize to the family publicly and skip the appeals process?  You falsely accused a grieving student of drug use and treated him like a criminal.  The mother has spoken with his teachers and coach to alert them of the situation prior to the boy returning to school, so it isn’t like the school was not aware of the situation.

I can understand a school making an occasional mistake, but when you are presented with the circumstances, and a negative drug test, you can’t have the courage to admit you were wrong and just wipe it from his record?  All they are doing at this point is compounding the problem and making themselves look uncaring.  Oh yes, please let me use you as a resource for my grieving child.

Schools never cease to amaze me any more.

UPDATE: The principal has apologized. How big of him.

A total of 42 published this week, but also a bunch you won’t see for a couple weeks yet, so hah!

FiveMinutePhotographer.com

• Get to know your ISO settings

FunJug.com

• Drunk History Vol. 6 Featuring John C. Reilly, and Crispin Glover
• Predator’s Teenage Son
• Rex Ryan Snack Speech
• Japanese Precision Walking Competition
• Explaining The Matrix To The Dude
• STAR WARS : The Solo Adventures
• 100 Cats In An Ikea

Photo.BLORGE.com

• SD Association announces new memory card connections

RememberingChristmas.com

• And Christmas Shopping Kicks Off For The Year

SeanPAune.com

• Star Wars Toys Go Vintage
• Georgia Town Outlaws Baggy Pants
• How To Make An Ass Out Of Yourself On The Internet In One Tweet
• Braindead Techcast Ep 138: A new contender for the Apple kiss-ass crown
• Jake And Josh Harris Agree To Another Season Of Deadliest Catch
• Braindead Techcast Ep 139: Sean disappears into the night
• First Set Photos From Captain America
• Braindead Techcast Ep 140: Our very own Old Spice moment
• Scattercast Episode #112: The Hard Reset
• Braindead Techcast Ep 141: Techmeme Friday so full of DUH
• 9/11 – Nine Years On

SpookieBits.com

• It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Halloween …

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Duke Nukem Forever To Finally Release In 2011?
• Rumor: Apple iPad With FaceTime Camera Spotted In The Wild
• Are Apple And Redbox In Talks For A Streaming Deal?
• Happy Labor Day!
• Apparently Apple’s Art Dept. Thinks The iPod Touch Is A Phone
• Report: Google To Launch Music Service By Christmas
• Google CEO Says Google TV To Launch This Fall
• Samsung Fascinate Gets Official
• ORIGIN Launches Big O Gaming Rig With Built-In Xbox 360
• Netflix Strikes Streaming Deal With Nu Image/Millennium Films
• Google Instant Just Changed the Game For Your Blog
• Apple Finally Announces App Store Review Guidelines; Good-Bye Fart Apps
• Jitters Set In Over Samsung Galaxy Tab Pricing
• Germany Looking To Legislate Employers Checking Your Facebook Profile
• Is The iPad Biting Into Computer Sales?
• Rumor: FaceTime Coming To iChat And Windows PCs
• Flashback Friday: Microsoft Courier
• Rumor: iPad 2 May Be Closer Than We Think
• Newsday iPad App Commercial Will Make You Laugh/Cry
• Why Did Amazon Hire A Top Xbox Executive?

Every year I debate if I still need to do this post, but then I realize that somehow talking about some stupid movie or television show, ranting about a law that irritates me and so on just wouldn’t make a lot of sense, nor would it feel right.

Last year I talked about how you shouldn’t wait for another disaster to say “thank you” to emergency workers, and I hope you have taken that time.  This year I’m not going to preach to you about anything, but I just hope you take a moment out of the normal everyday things that distract us to think about what happened on that fateful Tuesday morning.

Think about those that we lost in the buildings and on those flights.

Think about the brave passengers of Flight 93 that fought back.

Think about how that morning changed the lives of every American in some way.

While I didn’t lose anyone that morning, it set so many things in motion for me.  It closed many chapters of my life, and, unbeknownst at the time, set a series of events in motion that would in a round about a way open up another chapter.

Just take a moment, and think about the world prior to 9/11, and what it’s like today.  At least in my lifetime there has been no other event that so clearly defined a change in the entire world.  It’s odd to know that you actually lived history.  You always think of history as something that happens to someone else, but every citizen of the United States became part of a moment in history that morning, and it’s up to us that no one ever forgets what exactly happened that day, or those that came after.

Ah, another week draws to a close here at Braindead Techcast.  holds back a lone tear

But fear not, we have everyone’s favorite episode … Techmeme Friday!

Enjoy this week’s edition of Techmeme Friday!

• Android Will Blow Past Apple And RIM To Become Second Biggest Mobile OS This Year – Silicon Alley Insider
• Microsoft workers celebrated Windows Phone 7 RTM with iPhone hearses – Neowin
• GoDaddy Is on the Block – Wall Street Journal
• Exclusive: IAC Finally Kills Off Bloglines – TechCrunch
• A Time Capsule of Mark Zuckerberg From 2005 – GigaOM
• Google: ‘Android not optimised for tablets’ – TechRadar
• Stanford student creates YouTube Instant, gets job offer from YouTube CEO – VentureBeat
• Newsday’s Ad For Its iPad App Is Brilliant – Silicon Valley Insider
• Police: Thieves Robbed Homes Based On Facebook Posts – WMUR
• Facetime coming to iChat, Windows? – 9 to 5 Mac

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It’s episode #112 of Scattercast and I’m thinking Android is really beginning to annoy me.

More thoughts on my vacation.

Some thoughts on the problems with Android

I never have grasped the popularity of Captain America.

Still having funky audio problems.

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subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

We start off with a bit of a rant from me about button pushers … lemmings!

A lengthy discussion of the Apple App policies.  Some very interesting reading.

Paul O’Flaherty tries to woo me away from Steven.

• Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines: ‘we don’t need any more fart apps’ – Engadget
• Apple Finally Announces App Store Review Guidelines; Good-Bye Fart Apps – TechnoBuffalo
• Download link for the PDF of Apple App Store Review Guidelines

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Captain America: The First Avenger is currently busy filming in England, and while not much is known yet about the plot except that part of it takes place in the 1940′s and then catches up to modern times by the end.

With all that said, the title character’s costume has been kept under wraps, but when filming on-location, it’s a bit tougher to keep things hidden.  The Daily Mail snapped some photos not only of Cap, but also some major hints as to what is going on with the bad guys.

While we’ve known for some time the movie would feature the Red Skull, it also looks like the enemy organization called HYDRA will be playing a part.  If you look on the sides of the motorcycles, and at the hood ornament of the car you can clearly make out the logo for the group.

Click “Continue Reading” for the pictures and commentary.

Continue Reading ->

Okay, slight hiccup tonight as I disappear at the end of it due to a technical problem … oops.

We get in some discussion of Google Instant, and then get on to the cool tech stories of the past week.

Enjoy this week’s edition of Techmeme Friday!

• Time-Lapse Video of the Earth Rotating Under an Astronaut – Neatorama
• TAT 2014 concept looks like AMAZING, like Windows Phone 7 – WMPoweruser
• Swiss researchers show off brain-controlled, AI-augmented wheelchair – Engadget
• Those sci-fi tractor beams getting closer all the time – The Inquisitr

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Discovery Networks has brought speculation to an end in regards to the status of Jake & Josh Harris on the hit series Deadliest Catch.

Jake and Josh Harris are the sons of the late Capt. Phil Harris who passed away due to complications from a stroke on the most recent season of the series.  As the season came to a close, Jake was dealing with his recently revealed addiction to drugs, and Josh was trying to figure out what to do with his father’s beloved fishing vessel, the Cornelia Marie.

With things in so much flux in their personal lives, it was unclear if the Harris brothers would continue in the next season of the series, but according to The New York Times, both of the brothers have signed up for new contracts.

The puzzling part is that the article does make it sound somewhat like the brothers may not be on the family’s ship, and may even be on different vessels.  I am sure we’ll know the details in the not too distant future, but still interesting to ponder what might happen with these boys in the aftermath of their father’s passing.

Discovery Channel President and General Manager Clark Bunting said in a statement, “Josh and Jake are part of the Discovery family. We shared a very tough year together and look forward to continuing this special relationship in the future. Right now, they want to get back to fishing and we are doing everything that we can to support that.”

King Crab season should be starting up in Oct. and will be featured in the new season to begin airing next spring.