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Defcon Mystery Challenge

Looks like Defcon 16 is one of the best yet. The “Defcon 16 Mystery Challenge” is a competition for attendees to have at. Solve a series of puzzles and mysteries and you could win special black Defcon badges that give you free admittance for life. One of the puzzles includes this delightful yellow ball with a combination lock on the top. You say lockpick it, I say smash it.

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Steve Fossett: Is He Dead? Probably

For those unfamiliar with who Steve Fossett is: he was the first person to fly solo, nonstop, around the world in a balloon. He went missing in September of 2007 over the Nevada Desert, with no trace of his plane or himself ever discovered. He was officially pronounced dead by a courtroom judge February of this year.

But some are claiming he’s still alive, that he’s faked his own death due to personal problems.

Risk assessor Robert Davis says,

“I discovered that there is absolutely no proof that Steve Fossett is actually dead. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m a man who deals in facts, and I don’t really care if he is alive or dead, it make no difference to me. What I am interested in is the truth – and a proper criminal investigation of this man’s disappearance was never undertaken by law enforcement or officials in the state of Nevada.”

Davis is quoted as saying he doesn’t care if he’s alive or dead. What an asshole. Anyways, what it boils down to is many hidden variables of the case. Why did Fossett take off without emergency equipment? Was the plane he disappeared in quickly disassembled and hidden? Where would he go? Like Amelia Earhart, there are many unanswered questions to this case. Then again, people are less likely go to missing without a trace during these days of airborne surveillance in the sort of manner that turns up absolutely no evidence. Who knows if we’ll ever find the answers we’re looking for? If his wife believes he’s dead and he hasn’t accessed any of his assets since his disappearance, isn’t that good enough?

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Sony To Unleash Magical Mystery Product On Monday

Japanese electronics giant Sony is set to unveil a mysterious new product Monday night at 9 p.m. sharp. No one has any idea what type of device Sony is going to reveal, but on their web site they released a picture of a glowing green power button and promised something that will “redefine” performance, mobility, and style.

Based on those descriptions, odds are Sony’s new product is a laptop. On the other hand, the last time Sony did a mystery marketing campaign, it was for a dancing, light up MP3 player so there’s no point speculating about what might be behind the curtain at this latest top secret product launch. We’ll just have to stay tuned.

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MST3K Lives On Through YouTube

For those not familiar with Mystery Science Theater 3000, shame on you. A man and two robots trapped on a satellite forced to watch terrible movies sums it up. While most of the humor was displayed during the trash films that played throughout each episode of the show, there were intermissions between commercials. One of the more memorable moments is when the robots, Tom Servo and Crow,  argue the age old debate of Mac versus PC. This show fucking ruled, click the jump to see another video.
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