Nov 21 2008 Yarrr, Doubloons!: Live Pirate Map Shows You Where The Plundering Is Going Down

Pirates, they used to wear cool hats. Now? Not so much. But you can still check out their exploits on the International Maritime Bureau's "live piracy map" (based on Google Maps). You know, to see where the booty's being plundered.

Just drill down by using the zoom slider, and click on a flag to see what kind of crime took place. All are labeled with the type of ship, as well as whether the pirates successfully hijacked it or merely boarded. Certain areas, like this one off the coast of East Africa, are pirate paradises. The seas around Singapore and Malaysia are also packed with pirates.

You know where else is packed with pirates? My pants. Isn't that right you little swashbuckling bastards? Haha, just kidding -- they're crabs. I still gave them pirate names though. Stop it Captain Clawhands, that tickles!

Hit the jump for one more map and a link to interactive version in case you can't find the one I cleverly hid in the text of the post.

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Nov 3 2008 British Boy Legally Changes Name To 'Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined'

A 19-year old British kid legally changed his name from George Garratt to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined. Because, WTF, you only live once, right? Just kidding, this is my second go around.

"I decided on a superheroes theme and whenever my friends offered up suggestions to me, I added them."

He added: "My family have begun to expect these sorts of things from me, and although my friends thought it was ridiculous most people do call me Captain and it's been a great conversation starter."

A spokesman from The Legal Deed Poll Service, said: "We get so many outrageous name changes that these days it barely fazes us, but when this one was brought to my attention I knew there was something special about it."

Oh there's something special about it all right. Listen, Superman and The Flash are the only fast ones out of the bunch, so tacking on all those others is only increasing overall speed incrementally (and the time it takes to write your name exponentially). Snap -- your name just got learned, Captain Fantarded! Also, you're 19-years old man, come the f*** on.

Teenager's new name is fantastic [bbcnews]

Thanks to Chris, who wants to change his name to Captain Kickass Planet, and totally should.

Mar 21 2008 Little Car Gets A Staggering 8,923 MPG, Doesn't Have Room To Make Out In The Back

The Microjoule competition car is the lovechild of a caterpillar and a jellybean. And maybe a go-cart that was originally just filming but ended up getting in on the action. The amazingly green vehicle can "make the journey between New York and Los Angeles over three times on just one gallon of gas." !!! It has won Shell's Eco-Marathon every time since the car's original inception in 1992. "Amazingly the Microjoule doesn't have any fancy tricks -- it's just an aerodynamic, lightweight one-seater that runs off gasoline, but runs for a long time." Man, there has got to be some trick. Like a hamster wheel or a sorcerer or something. Something. Cars just can't go nearly 9,000 on a single gallon of gas. So I'm just going to go ahead and set the record straight right here: Magic. That's right folks, The Gathering.

Microjoule competition car gets amazing 8,923 miles per gallon [dvice]

Feb 1 2008 USB EcoButton To Help Save The World

Pushing the Ecobutton sends your computer into energy saver mode. So all you have to do is plug it in, load the software, and then anytime you leave your computer station slam that sucker. Of course you could manually send your computer into energy-saving mode, but nobody does that and jamming on a button is a lot more rewarding. Plus the program it comes with keeps a running tab on the CO2 and money you've saved so far. The company making them believes "a business with 50 computers would save 6.80 Tonnes of CO2 and over $1,500 USD per year of electricity by using the EcoButton (were it employed to reduce a suggested average of two hours of non-machine use per day)."

Not too shabby. I love mashing buttons and I love the world, so I'm totally down. I'll slam the button as hard as I can and yell "Greener than you are, you earth-destroying a-holes!" Then I'll make my way through the cubicle farm picking fights with coworkers that don't have one. I know what you're thinking -- this Geekologie writer sounds like a real dick. But I prefer to view myself as more of a modern day Captain Planet with anger management issues.

As Cute As An EcoButton: Computer Energy Saver [treehugger]

Thanks to Sebastian, who loves and cares about the world as much as I do, for the tip