Comments Ninjas have invaded Pennsylvania, and are holding up petrol ('gas' to their American victims) stations at swordpoint. Two female ninjas, that staple of the videogame industry, stole (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/25/ninja_blag/) "cash, cigarettes and lottery tickets" from a terrified clerk. While the latter two items don't really fit the ninja mystique, that didn't matter to you. They are girls and they ninj:

She-ninjas?! I'm in love! I mean it this time!

Anon

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El Reg should be afraid as ninjas are plotting their revenge for having lost the chance to fight Chuck Norris...

they just need the lottery tickets and cigarrets to fund their movement

Anon

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So we'll just have to pass Sword & Dagger Control laws, that'll stop it.

Anon

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I regret the omission of a certain M. Thatcher from the recent poll on Shaolin Kung-Fu Monks v. Ninjas v. Charles Norris. She'd have given them all a damn good handbagging, after all she crushed the mining industry, Ronnie Reagan and the unions under her dainty size 6 court shoes.

The US were afraid of the UK when Maggie was in charge!

Matthew

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Stealing lottery tickets? Shurely that's one of the most stupid things to steal... I'm assuming they stole instant-win scratch cards or the like, in which case all the police need to do is take a note of the serial numbers allocated to the shop, and wait for somebody to try to cash in a winner.

Ninjas they may be, brainiacs certainly not.

Ian Ferguson

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[Ninja thievery] seems rather practical. People will be so busy boggling at the strange attire and weapons that they're unlikely to get a decent look at the *real* people inside the hollywood suits.

And nunchuku, or flails, should be pretty effective in NYC, a city wherein the law-abiding citizens have been largely disarmed by a lengthy series of cowardly politicians.

laird cummings

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Japanese boffins have developed (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/27/japan_boffins_breed_mutant_transparent_sunroof_frogs/) a frog with see-through skin to allow its organs to be observed without the need for dissection. Frogs everywhere are undoubtedly jubilant. The scientists are seeking to patent their hoppers and sell them on the market, so you could pick one up as an educational frog for your sprog. The experience might be a little traumatising for the nipper, however, since the third generation apparently invariably die shortly after birth. But it'll be worth it for the look on little Billy's face.

FROGGIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! GIMME!!! *glee*

*ahem* What I meant to say was, I want one for serious scientific research. Of some kind.

Ian Ferguson

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Can they really patent something that is already in nature? Check out the Glass Frog! (Totally transparent so you can see the bones and organs!) Its cool!

here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrolenidae

God 1: Scientists 0 (ducks for flame war!)

Simon Brooks

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Now that they're transparent, why not genetically engineer one with an internal OLED display? The perfect recyclable pocket TV, just package it with a sachet of mayonaise... Galvani would be so pleased :)

Anon

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batrachians with built-in windows? Can you get them with Linex? Will I get a refund if I don't want windows?

Paul

Coat. Door. Go.

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Why do I get the feeling that the BRM cracking process will be VERY gooey indeed?

Bubish

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Hitler's secret hideout has been rumbled, and two years after the discovery (got to give the Führer time to make good his escape) the US Navy, who own the building, are to spend $600,000 remodelling (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/26/hilters_bunker_remodelled/) it into a less totalitarian shape. A number of you decried this as a waste of money, but the more level-headed of you launched into conspiracy theory mode:

I have to ask - how did the architect fail to see this when designing the building?

Perhaps Hitler decided to take his artistic talents into the building sector? :P

Anon

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It may well have been designed by Albert Speer. I believe he got out of Spandau around then.

Charley

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The Woman Formerly Known As Mrs Larrington - herself an architect - and I have long maintained that Hitler was doing a bit of architecture on the side. Proof of this can be found in the swastika motif in the windows of the Walthamstow Assembly Hall.

Mr Larrington

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When I went to the Carlsburg brewery (Copenhagen, Denmark; very tasty!) a couple of years ago they some of these similar figures carved in stone on the the sides of some of the walls. They had pre-dated WW2 by quite some time, when the figure was "more fashonable". That silly crazed leader of Germany a while back really screwed it all up.

Of course, if one wants to look for symbols, there are reverse sides (tails) of pre 1945 USA dimes ($.10) that have the facist symbol of an axe wrapped in a bunch of sticks. I don't see them recalling those (most are in the hands of collectors, or melted for silver content). Oh, well. Live and learn!

Tom

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I imagine the architect probably designed the four L-shaped buildings as four L-shaped buildings in a nicely symmetrical pattern. If you take out the trees etc in the middle, it looks a lot more like four separate buildings.

Must have been quite a forehead-slapping moment when he realised what it looked a little bit like. If he ever did.

And Tim's absolutely right. It's a disgraceful waste of $600,000. How many robotic pack mules could be developed with that kind of cash?

David S

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A rather unlucky teenager sent a text message offering weed (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/23/reefer_madness/) to the West Virginia State Police. He had thought the number still belonged to a friend, but it had actually passed into the coppers' hands. He was duly picked up and cuffed, and charged with delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver. You shook your e-heads at this silliness:

Reefer? I seem to recall thats a sort of jacket worn by certain young types such as Marlon Brando :)

Graham Lockley

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Hey, just because it was ridiculously easy, doesn't mean the guy shouldn't have been busted. When you're that clueless, you *deserve* to be busted - For once, stupidity was punishable. Can't fault the cops for shooting the fish in the barrel, when said fish tries so hard to be obvious.

laird cummings

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well that sucks for him talk about bad luck still if your trying to sell contraband it's best not to use text messaging as you can't be sure who will read it.

Alan Donaly

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I wonder if his phone is one of those that also allows the user to speak to another person? This feature might have saved him some embarrassment...

James Pickett

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An Australian man has been nicked for breaking into his neighbour's house and shagging his vacuum cleaner (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/21/oz_hoover_trial/). DNA evidence allowed a conviction two years after the clandestine household appliance hanky-panky, but the perp escaped jail and was sentenced to 12 months' community service.

Now we know why Henry's smiling :P

Anon

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Obviously too much Blue Peter as a child. "a sex toy from a bottle of detergent, a piece of wood and a rubber glove" I bet there was some 'Sticky Backed Plastic' in there too

Anon

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I bet it wasn't a Henry but the smaller, pink version - the Hetty.

Flashing her eyelashes at him, the poor innocent housebreaker.

She led him in to it with promises of being compact but still being able to outperform many others.

Why do the courts never listen to the victims of opportunist vacuum cleaners having their way with poor unsuspecting young males.

I can't buy the 'I was stoned at the time' rubbish - he wasn't so out of it as he remembered the rubber gloves.

Keith Turner

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I'd claim to have been taking every drug under the sun if I'd been fingered for that - just for credibility...

Cliff

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Who exactly in your Organ has the obsession with non-standard human sexual behavior, inflatable girlfriends, interspecies sex ..

Doug

Every last one of us, of course. We spend half the day trawling gutter sites for salacious piffle, and the other half making up more of it. We live for mentions of sex doll misuse (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/30/disqualification_shame/), tackle-torching (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/moscow_human_candle/) and dwarven nob-gluing (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/dwarf_hoover_incident/). Okay, maybe that's just Lester. At any rate, we're all off to watch a midget wrestle a shetland pony in a tank full of butter. ®