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An anonymous reader writes 'After having played on the slot machine for over 30 minutes, Bill Seebeck was ecstatic when he hit the $166 million jackpot. However, The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa was less than enthusiastic, telling Seeback his win was a mistake because the machine malfunctioned. Thus, the casino refused to pay Seebeck his prize as the machine was only supposed to have a maximum pay out of $99K. Currently, the casino refuses to pay out even that amount.'

An anonymous reader writes 'A Houston man wasn't allowed to vote in Tuesday's mayoral election because he refuses to use computers and there were no other options available. No paper ballots? Skynet is taking over.'

In addition to searching for the fastest horse and the best barbecue the people of Louisville, Kentucky love looking for something else, online porn. BusinessInsider.com conducted a study using Google Trends and found Louisville residents the most likely to search for obscene material online. "You want to be number one in a lot of different things, but you certainly don't want to be number one for obscene searches across the entire country," said Bryan Wickens, president of Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana.

The family of 59-year-old Ademir Jorge Goncalves got a shocking but pleasant surprise at his funeral when Ademir showed up alive. Police and family misidentified the victim of a terrible car crash as Goncalves and as is customary in Brazil, the funeral was held the next day. In reality Goncalves had stayed at a friends house after drinking sugarcane liquor all night. "The corpse was badly disfigured, but dressed in similar clothing. People are afraid to look for very long when they identify bodies, and I think that is what happened in this case," said a police spokesman. I can't wait for this premise to be made into a reality show.

MikeChino writes "How many times have you bit into a piece of fruit only to find that you're also chomping on a sticker label? The small sticky labels have long been the bane of waste-conscious fruit and vegetable eaters, but that might all change thanks to new technology that uses a low-energy carbon dioxide laser beam to etch information directly onto produce. No more peeling those annoying labels! So far the technology is being used on a number of fruits and vegetables in New Zealand, Australia, and Pacific Rim countries, and it's currently going through the final stages of review by the FDA. Once the technology is approved in the US, researchers from the University of Florida and the USDA Agricultural Research Service hope that it will be used in Florida's massive grapefruit industry."

jggimi writes "According to the New York Times, more than fifteen hundred remote sensing devices have been sold to Iraq's Ministry of the Interior, at prices ranging from $16,500 to $60,000 each. The devices are used for bomb and weapon detection at checkpoints, and have no battery or other power source. Sounds great, but according to a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, they work on the same principle as a Ouija board — the power of suggestion. He described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod. Even though the device has been debunked by the US Military, the US Department of Justice, and even Sandia National Laboratories, the Iraqis are thrilled with the devices. 'Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,' said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior's General Directorate for Combating Explosives."

If you're a al Shabaab insurgent in Somalia with a Mylie Cyrus ringtone you probably have a lot of problems. The newest one is that your organization has formally banned musical ringtones. The official ring is "...to be only a Muslim cleric reading the Hadith or Koranic verse." Terrorist and Bollywood movie song aficionado Sacdiyo Sheeq says. "I used to listen to my favorite Indian songs on my cell phone, but now I have just thrown that memory away."

Uganda's ethics minister, James Buturo, is leading a movement to ban witch-doctors from advertising on the radio. Witchcraft is a major problem in Uganda, particularly in rural areas. Buturo says that radio stations, "...are promoting witchcraft-related activities to the detriment of Uganda's integrity." When asked for comment a witch-doctor spokesman said, "Ooo eee, ooh ah ah, ting tang walla walla, bing bang." Bing bang, indeed.

An anonymous reader writes "Google Latitude has already made headlines for allowing phone users to locate their friends, and there are countless other iPhone and Android phone apps already designed to transmit your location — but could pets be the next big thing in GPS tracking? A number of device manufacturers are marketing GPS technology as a futuristic tool for tracking your cat or dog, and even discovering exactly where they've been. These devices are sold under a number of names and brands, including Sportdog, LoCATor, RoamEO, Petcell, Zoombak and Pettrack."

digitalfever writes 'One of the most celebrated functions of the Internet is an unprecedented ability for people to connect. This has led to social networks, online dating, and, it turns out, a lot of people connecting over really strange things. Here are some of the more interesting clubs that the internet has helped give life to.'