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Weird Wide Web: Life on Mars, World Cup withdrawal and sexting extortion

All of your essential tech and social media news for the week in one byte-sized portion.

WELCOME TO THE Weird Wide Web – where we take a look at the week’s best offerings in tech and social media news.

Ambitious space plan of the week

NASA is aiming to produce oxygen on Mars with its 2020 rover experiment. Researchers will look at whether the air on the planet can be converted, bringing us one step closer to having life on Mars…

Doctor, doctor app of the week

We’re all guilty of Googling symptoms we’re having and trying to diagnose ourselves but are consequently well aware of how terrifying the results can be. This app gives you some of the immediacy of searching it on the internet but, in this instance, you get a response from a real doctor. If you fall down the stairs and break your leg though, we’d still advise you to go straight to the hospital…

iTunes iTunes

Smart carpark of the week

For many people, parking is the worst part of driving. This system would see your car park itself and then come and pick you up at the door of the hotel or office you’ve parked at. Very Bond-esque.

BoschAutomotive / YouTube

World Cup withdrawal cure of the week

Buzzfeed found this great (and very addictive) little browser game that’s basically like playing foosball on your computer. Enjoy…

Soccer Physics Soccer Physics

Sexting scandal of the week

Scammers are now using sexts to extort thousands of dollar from users of an online dating site in the US, Business Insider reports. They first pose as daters, coax users into sending sexually explicit pictures of themselves and then identify themselves as a sheriff’s deputy looking for child predators. To avoid prosecution, they are told they can can pay a fine.

Read previous Weird Wide Webs>

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3 Comments
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    Mute Lily
    Favourite Lily
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:53 AM

    SOCIALISM
    You have 2 cows.
    You give one to your neighbour

    COMMUNISM
    You have 2 cows.
    The State takes both and gives you some milk

    FASCISM
    You have 2 cows.
    The State takes both and sells you some milk

    NAZISM
    You have 2 cows.
    The State takes both and shoots you

    BUREAUCRATISM
    You have 2 cows.
    The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then
    throws the milk away

    TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
    You have two cows.
    You sell one and buy a bull.
    Your herd multiplies, and the economy
    grows.
    You sell them and retire on the income

    ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND (VENTURE) CAPITALISM
    You have two cows.
    You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by
    your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption
    for five cows.
    The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
    The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States , leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release.
    The public then buys your bull.

    SURREALISM
    You have two giraffes.
    The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

    AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You sell one, and force the other to
    produce the milk of four cows.
    Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why
    the cow has dropped dead.

    A GREEK CORPORATION
    You have two cows. You borrow lots of euros to build barns, milking sheds, hay stores, feed sheds,
    dairies, cold stores, abattoir, cheese unit and packing sheds.
    You still only have two cows.

    A FRENCH CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three
    cows.

    A JAPANESE CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce
    twenty times the milk.
    You then create a clever cow cartoon image called a Cowkimona and
    market it worldwide.

    AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
    You have two cows,
    but you don’t know where they are.
    You decide to have lunch.

    A SWISS CORPORATION
    You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
    You charge the owners for storing them.

    A CHINESE CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You have 300 people milking them.
    You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
    You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

    AN INDIAN CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    You worship them.

    A BRITISH CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    Both are mad.

    AN IRAQI CORPORATION
    Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
    You tell them that you have none.
    No-one believes you, so they bomb the ** out of you and invade your country.
    You still have no cows, but at least you are now a Democracy.

    AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    Business seems pretty good.
    You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

    A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
    You have two cows.
    The one on the left looks very attractive…

    127
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    Mute Rawoc
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    Mar 1st 2014, 10:12 AM

    Classic. Funniest thing I read in ages :)

    37
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    Mute Ally Collyer
    Favourite Ally Collyer
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    Mar 1st 2014, 10:41 AM

    Agree, very funny indeedy! Sorry Lily, I’ve just shared this on fb :)

    16
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    Mute Lily
    Favourite Lily
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    Mar 1st 2014, 11:13 AM

    Where do you think I found it ; )… I had to share…

    * It’s been doing the rounds since at least 2008. In one form or another with people adding their own take on it… It called ’2 cows’ if you want to google it…

    12
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    Mute Ollie O'Cleirigh
    Favourite Ollie O'Cleirigh
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    Mar 1st 2014, 7:08 PM

    Brilliant.

    2
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    Mute mcgoo
    Favourite mcgoo
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:27 AM

    For the sake of the cows, Ireland and Northern Ireland should just become the one country. Again.

    52
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    Mute sean o reilly
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:28 AM

    This Linda Martin story keeps on mooing.

    27
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    Mute Dennis Collins
    Favourite Dennis Collins
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:46 AM

    Didn’t the Church do away with Limbo?

    18
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    Mute Dennis Collins
    Favourite Dennis Collins
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    Mar 1st 2014, 10:20 AM

    So the problem is that they have to label the cows as Irish-born, British slaughtered, yes? All for the sake of travelling a few kilometres.

    Couldn’t they just label them as Irish-born, reared and slaughtered? Even Paisley proudly calls himself Irish (his own words) by virtue of the fact that Northern Ireland is still part of the island of Ireland. So why can’t the cows be Irish too? Labelling problem solved. Everyone can calm down, relax and take a breather. This economic crisis that could have brought the continent to a screeching halt has been averted, so the European Parliament can go back to discussing the shapes of bananas instead.

    11
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    Mute james cullen
    Favourite james cullen
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:18 AM

    Cows in limbo priceless

    11
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    Mute Life in no motion
    Favourite Life in no motion
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:31 AM

    Limbo’s burgers

    10
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    Mute Pat Nolan
    Favourite Pat Nolan
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:17 AM

    Some load of bull

    9
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    Mute Alan Lawlor
    Favourite Alan Lawlor
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    Mar 1st 2014, 10:28 AM

    I know a farmer in Roscommon. I wonder if he will let me try convince one of his cows to shimmy under a low fence to the sound of some Calypso music.
    Limbo, Limbo, Limbo!

    8
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    Mute FlopFlipU
    Favourite FlopFlipU
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    Mar 1st 2014, 9:57 AM

    They are up in the dall

    6
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    Mute Michael Garett
    Favourite Michael Garett
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    Mar 1st 2014, 11:22 AM

    Seriously though Irish beef factories paying poor prices at the moment for home grown stock. They dont want farmers cattle. Not even interested in Bord Bia quality assured animals. The have sheds full of their own fit for slaughter. LH reg (Goodman country)lorries delivering cattle into Goodman factory into Bandon . Same story different year.

    5
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    Mute Michael Garett
    Favourite Michael Garett
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    Mar 1st 2014, 10:54 AM

    Sectarianism rears its ugly head again. Are cattle religious? This could get messy.

    4
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    Mute susanna smyth
    Favourite susanna smyth
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    Mar 1st 2014, 2:58 PM

    So these cows haven’t been baptised then?

    2
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    Mute Anthony Byrne
    Favourite Anthony Byrne
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    Mar 1st 2014, 3:27 PM

    All i remember about that article is, ive got 2 cows.

    1
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