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Me: I'm going to perform a magic trick. I simply place this fruit into a blender. Push the button and.......

Rob: OMG WHERE DID THE FOOD GO!!!!

[Rob claimed that by drinking it every day he'd never have to eat again]

They never seem to get around to the fixing famine part of his plan. I just love that he thinks drinking somehow makes it not food. Also processing it makes it not food. By that logic a cake is synthetic food.

Rob claimed that by drinking it every day he'd never have to eat again. Given that starvation is a fairly major problem in the world at the moment and the planet's population will likely surpass 9 billion by 2050, Rob's invention seems like an important one.

emphasis mine

Eating and drinking are identical processes! I'm more upset at the people who threw this guy $800,000 in 30 days.

Neat! I asked a couple of neurologists wandering around today about this. Both had no idea if it's alpha waves or not but think it's a possibility. They also think it's really neat too.

I would think it would be challenging to estimate the frequency of the illusion, although comparing them to other fixed wheels may make that easier.

Secondly, the authors say that perceiving the illusion (not just seeing the physical wheel) causes increased alpha waves:

I can try to test that! Perfect excuse to hook up my neurosky again.

[but they're also the potential forefathers of a famine cure.]

Update:  The novelty of this guy's craziness has officially worn off for me. Evidently he is going to be filthy rich.
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rob-rhinehart-interview-soylent-never-eat-again

Since we last talked to him, Rob and Soylent have become famous. His project has been derided as "dangerous", "ludicrous", and "a red flag for a potential eating disorder" by nutrition experts. Fortunately for Rob, the supporters of Soylent have been generous: a crowdfunding project for his fancy health goo raised almost $800,000 in under 30 days. Now Rob is the CEO of the Soylent Corporation; his hobby has officially turned into a career. His management team might look like the kind of technically-minded nerds who'd want to consume most of their meals in the form of a beige, odourless powder mix, but they're also the potential forefathers of a famine cure.

but they're also the potential forefathers of a famine cure.

NO NO NO.  No one in any of his interviews has asked the obvious question "Doesn't this food take more food to make than you are getting back?"

How is Soylent different from other meal-replacement drinks on the market already?
A lot of things will give you calories, but nothing so far has been designed to be something you can live off. There are no food replacements on the market.

There are. It's called food.

People are inundated with terrible, conflicting advice. Nutrition is unfortunately a field where everyone thinks they're an expert. I am not, and I don't need to be.

.......On the plus side. There may be a market for my Ice->Water transmogrifier.

[DOES NOT]

Your incessant psychedelic tripping might not be such a bad idea after all.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130819185302.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news%2Ftop_science+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News+--+Top+Science%29

LSD and Other Psychedelics Not Linked With Mental Health Problems, Analysis Suggests

Aug. 19, 2013 — The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person's risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used psychedelics at least once.

Researcher Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Neuroscience, used data from a US national health survey to see what association there was, if any, between psychedelic drug use and mental health problems.

The authors found no link between the use of psychedelic drugs and a range of mental health problems. Instead they found some significant associations between the use of psychedelic drugs and fewer mental health problems.

This makes sense. You always hear stories about people wrecking their minds with this stuff, but I always figured that a lot of those stories were just people who already had mental problems. Kinda like how drinking doesn't turn people into a racist it just lets it out.

PLEASE NOTE that this DOES NOT mean I want you to talk to me about your drug trip, because I still don't care. Nobody fucking cares.

.....So there we were in the cornfields and then the wind came up and it was like, man, the corn itself willed it. Then we walked through the parted corn and I could feel time. Then widespread panic started their second set so we hightailed it back to my friend's Mom's Jeep Cherokee but, dude, I know that could of been my chance to be a magikal wizard. Like this other time on the monkey bars behind the elementary school we ended up...........

Dog park's aren't a thing. Dog park, that could never, ever be real.

Poxwattle,

I do declare, I fear I am afflicted with a case of the vapors. What medicine to spring me from my fainting couch?

"Why? Why have you brought me back? Book Quote? I don't understand. Why have you disturbed my eternal slumber? The pain...the pain...."
-Abraham Lincoln

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/white-house-picks-panel-to-review-nsa-programs/

So, to recap, the independent panel includes:

James Clapper - Director of National Intelligence
Mike Morrell - former Deputy Director of the CIA
Richard Clarke - former chief advisor on Homeland Security
Peter Swire - former Obama special assistant for economic policy, and
Cass Sunstein - former collegue of Obama at Chicago Law school, who has argued for rethinking the First Amendment and advocated "cognitive infiltration" of what he sees as conspiracy theorist groups.

Well, I'm sure this wide group of independent thinkers with no ideological, professional or personal stakes at hand will come to an informed conclusion about the extent of NSA illegality.

Edit: added links

That is disturbing.

"Surprisingly little information about cats."
-Cat Fancy Magazine

Saw this on reddit. Old concept but new plausability.

I can hear the phonecall now

"Prince William, this is the government. We need you to place your baby into the car improperly."

"I don't understand."

"It will protect freedom for another few days! Do you want the terrorists to win? Do it now!"

You say this and I think of occasions where Royals have been shoved in front of a camera. Then I think of events around those events. Then I stop laughing as much.

It wouldn't surprise me if that was actually happening. It's effective. Like the Presidential dog it gives people a nice safe story to chew on.

I can hear the phonecall now

"Prince William, this is the government. We need you to place your baby into the car improperly."

"I don't understand."

"It will protect freedom for another few days! Do you want the terrorists to win? Do it now!"

I thought he already had a dog.

He does.  He now has another dog.

It's all very newsworthy.  Important.  Totally unrelated to the NSA scandal, which has Big Words and is hard for the press corps to understand.

Silence those unpleasant truths.  BO WAS LONELY!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/21/sunny-s-debut-bo-s-bubble-the-undogly-life-of-a-presidential-pet.html