How many times have you been in a dark alley trying to hire an escort looking for a contact lens and found yourself without a pocket flashlight?

Well Brite-Strike Technologies has released a new line of military spec flashlights to the market that will service all of your covert op’s needs.  The great thing about these flashlights is they can also be used as a defense against all those creatures that go bump in the night.

When set to high, these flashlights emit an extraordinarily brilliant light that can momentarily blind and disorient an attacker.   When set to low, these flashlights can be used for regular use without the dark spots of standard flashlights because of its faceted machined aluminum reflector that produces its flawless beam.      

The casing of the Brite-Strike is milled from a solid bar of aircraft grade aluminum with a super hard anodized finish that exceeds mil spec class III, which makes it hard as nails. Featuring a specially designed front and rear tri-strike-crown, this flashlight can be used for maximum impact on pressure points while using self defense techniques.

There you have it! A veritable cornucopia of kickassery as well as luminescence.  You can snag your MacGuyver copy of this bad boy here.

By now everyone has heard of the game Second Life or as I affectionately like to call it, “the game that isn’t Warcraft.”  Ok, ok, I relent…some of you out there may like it. It does have some “unique” features like being able to privately own in game property. Indeed the games motto from the start was to allow the user to completely immerse themselves in a virtual world.  Well it just got more real.

Starting March 6, Second Life will begin beta testing a new integrated voice chat which will allow the user to communicate with their fellow Second Lifians in their own voice. This new chat feature will have two settings, personal voice chat, allowing anyone in the vicinity to hear the conversation, and also group voice chat, allowing only designated players to hear the person’s voice.

Players who currently pay the $295 monthly maintenance fee (should get their head examined) will not have to fork over any more cash to have this feature installed on their properties. However those players that have been grandfathered in with lower fees may be required to upgrade.

Sounds like we are one step closer to jacking into the matrix. Just make sure you all make it back to Zion in time for dinner.

[Via CNet]

Internet hunting. It’s been around for a couple of years now, and is the sickest thing I can think of this side of kiddie porn or Jack Thompson. Basically, it involves users picking out a harmless animal on a webcam that’s just sitting in a pen, and with a click, someone standing by the pen kills the animal. The original “justification” for the enterprise was to allow disabled hunters to get their murderous rush vicariously. I’m not sure how this even became a reality, but I suppose there are enough weirdos out there that this actually requires the attention of legislators.

Recently, Connecticut finally passed a bill prohibiting such senseless crap. Thank you to all the states that prohibit such things. As a Canadian, I know I have a lot to be ashamed of in this department, but at least we have the balls to kill things ourselves. For anyone who’s considering opening a business like this or patronizing them with real money, go screw yourself. Bambi’s mom will hunt you down and eat your soul.

[via Houston Chronicle]