The 404 620: Where Wilson got beaten by an octopus (podcast)

Watch this: Ep. 620: Where Wilson got beaten by an octopus

29:57

Paul the German Octopus is officially more powerful than our own Wilson G. Tang at predicting the future. The mollusk in Oberhausen is 8 for 8 in forecasting the winning teams in this year's World Cup, including yesterday's triumphant victory for Spain over the Netherlands.

In fact, we already planned to invite Paul into the studio this Friday to tell us about the iPhone 5, but recent news tells us that the eight-legged wonder is already planning his retirement from the soccer prediction industry.

If you haven't figured it out by now, The 404 crew is complete again and I've returned from my vacation in Southern California, where I spent most of the time recovering from jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Despite initial complications with the goggles, the jump was a success! No one got hurt, and yes, I did manage to make it back to the ground, with the help of my lead-lined shoes and an extra-weighted instructor strapped to my back. Tune into the show for more details on the jump and the rest of my trip!

Summer still hasn't hit the West Coast, but we're certainly feeling the heat out here in New York. Temperatures on the East Coast hit well over 100 degrees last week, and it doesn't look like it'll end soon...for another 30 years, to be precise.

A study by ScienceDaily predicts even longer heat waves similar to the one we're in now becoming disturbingly commonplace in the next 30 years. In fact, one of the authors of the study writes, "Occurrence of the longest historical heat wave further intensifies in the 2030-2039 period, including greater than five occurrences per decade over much of the western U.S. and greater than three exceedences per decade over much of the eastern U.S." Smells like burning in here...

Last week The 404 scolded folks for not giving up their seats on the subway to pregnant women and the elderly, but a 66-year-old woman in Japan proves that not doing so could be a serious health risk. Tamiko Masuta, 66, was arrested yesterday for "assaulting" a teenager with her umbrella after the ingrate refused to give up his seat on the bus.

The teen suffered a broken nose as a result of the attack, and Masuta is subsequently spending time in jail since this wasn't the first time she had been questioned by the police for assaulting a student on the bus. Next time you're on the bus and a senior citizen asks you nicely to give up your seat, DO IT!

We're still accepting theme song submissions, but we can't stress enough that the piece has to be OF YOUR OWN CREATION--if you didn't make it, we can't use it! As disappointed as we were with last week's "Supremacy" bungle, we're still hoping that one of you talented listeners will come up with your own unique 8-bit theme for us! Send all music to us at the404(at)cnet(dot)com; callbacks and voicemails gladly accepted as well!