Non Sequitur

Apparently, what happens on MySpace doesn't always float in Vegas: A substitute judge in the North Las Vegas Justice Court got sacked last week because of some nasty stuff he said on his social-networking profile about prosecutors.

The 34-year-old criminal defense attorney, Jonathan MacArthur, had been appointed as a judge pro tempore in anticipation of a full judicial post that would be available in 2009. Unfortunately, MacArthur wrote on his MySpace profile that his interests included "Breaking my foot off in a prosecutor's a**...and improving my ability to break my foot off in a prosecutor's … Read more

Trust me--I know procrastination. But this one really takes the cake.

JibJab, as you probably know already, made a name for itself by creating corny (yet socially relevant) musical skits that superimposed the heads of politicians and celebrities onto cartoon bodies. Now that user-generated content is nothing new, it almost seems overdue that JibJab would introduce a "make your own" feature. But now, at long last, here it is: "JibJab Starring You!"

The concept, at least according to the creators, is to JibJab yourself by uploading a photo, easily crop it with the Flash-based tools … Read more

The concept of a hair-straightening vending machine didn't make a whole lot of sense to me off the bat, but perhaps that's because my hair is naturally arrow-straight and I'm always drowning it in goo in ill-fated attempts to give it a little bit of life. But my curly-haired friends assure me that--especially in these humid summer months--hair straighteners installed in the bathrooms of bars and clubs would be a godsend.

And, yes, they'd be willing to pay a bit of cash to use them.

A company called Beautiful Vending is doing just that: manufacturing hair … Read more

Generally, when we hear about London nightclubs stateside, it's because Prince Harry was spotted dancing on a table in a sarong or because some flashy playboy racked up a ridiculous tab. This time, however, it's a little bit different. The Camden Town boite Koko has introduced a new high-tech system to keep tabs on partygoers who leave the club for smoke breaks. Upon leaving the establishment, their fingerprints are scanned; they're then allowed seven minutes to enjoy their cigs, and then afterward must re-enter by re-scanning. Makes the bouncer's job a whole lot easier, I'm … Read more

Axe body spray is just about the nastiest stuff on the planet--trust me, guys, don't wear it, it's girl repellent and is really only good for covering up scents that might make the cops come a'knocking--but they did come out with a particularly clever ad campaign. It's not often that ads me laugh out loud for real, but these did.

A series of photographs show visual tableaux of young fellows who clearly have spent too much time doing somewhat pointless things (training frogs to jump, occupying all ten high-score spots on an arcade video game, building … Read more

Riding on a sleeper train for several thousand miles seems a bit silly sometimes when you can just hop a plane for a couple of hours and get to the same destination in a fraction of the time, especially when it's often cheaper to fly anyway. Amtrak, however, is attempting to counter that image by promoting its train service as the landlubber's equivalent of a luxury cruise--a booze cruise, that is. According to an Associated Press article, the passenger rail service is trying to "gin up new business" (Ha, ha! You slay me, AP!) by offering … Read more

Maybe you can't has Facebook right now, but you can has a Harry Potter lolcat:

We'll now return to our regularly scheduled programming--until the next funny cat photo with a grammatically butchered caption shows up.

(Via Webware lab rat Josh Lowensohn, an apologist for both lolcats and Harry Potter)

Want a conversation starter? Just toss a pillow that lists off terms like "Orlando Bloom," "podcasting," and "bankruptcy" onto your couch, and your guests du jour will likely be so curious that they won't even notice you forgot to dust the top of your TiVo box.

This is, for the record, the Google News Cushion from Spring Design & Art. Those seemingly mismatched list items are, in fact, the top ten Google News searches of 2006. The company also sells a few other years' worth, too. (What do you want to bet the '… Read more

This vid's been making the viral rounds in my Twitter friends list and such, accompanied by claims of "greatest prank ever" and what-have-you. Personally, I think it's clever, but I can't seem to believe that people actually fell for it--and the camera angles and quality are suspiciously professional, not hidden-camera caliber. Still good for a few laughs, though.