Pinkberry to invade Bay Area

With several million dollars worth of new funding in hand, Pinkberry is turning its focus to the Bay Area.

And how.

The froyo giant already has one foothold in the area, and now Pinkberry has announced that it will develop a minimum of 30 stores in the Bay Area and Sacramento markets. Of course, there's no timeframe on said explosion.

But there's so much more froyo madness. In addition to partnering with HMSHost—a retail operator in most U.S. airports (read: airport froyo coming soon)—Pinkberry is also taking the show international ... in the most unlikely of places. From the release: "Pinkberry has partnered with the M.H. Alshaya Co. to open 35 stores in nine countries throughout the Middle East."

Alshaya also operates international megabrands like Starbucks and H&M, so it looks like froyo and pig flu are probably going to take over the world together.

The Laws of Cartoon Physics

I've always found physics to be an intriguing subject, but the physics of cartoons are downright fascinating.

Some examples include:

• Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation.
• Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter.
• All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
• Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.

There's a long list, all with in-depth explanations. This should definitely be a required course as part of any college Physics major.

Vice Squad

Girls really love babies, so the best thing to do if you’ve just divorced your wife because you couldn’t handle her menopause is to chop off your manhood, surgically attach a baby’s penis between your legs, and then trot around a beach nude. Within minutes young girls will be running after you, begging to put it in their mouth.

Hey everyone, it's Bob & David!

Fail of the Day

Fleet Foxes to Tour With Dungen

And Neil Young, if you're in London. That would be quite the show to attend.

Fleet Foxes:

05-25 George, WA - Sasquatch!
06-23 Arendal, Norway - Hove Festival
06-26 Glastonbury, United Kingdom - Glastonbury Festival
06-27 London, United Kingdom - Hyde Park Calling #
07-04 Arvika, Sweden - Arvikafestivalen
07-29 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
07-30 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
07-31 Jersey City, NJ - All Points West
08-01 Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
08-03 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis Theatre *
08-04 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall *
08-05 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Theatre *
08-07 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-09 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
09-12 North Dorset, United Kingdom - End of the Road Festival

# with Neil Young
* with Dungen

Bon Iver to Open for Indigo Girls

Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or more so, not at all?

Justin Vernon, playing solo, will support the Girls on three dates in California in July.

The dates come in the middle of a big spring/summer trek for Bon Iver, which includes a bunch of festival stops in the U.S. and the UK, as well as a run of dates with Elvis Perkins in Dreamland. Full itinerary below.

Bon Iver:

05-11 Dennis, MA - Cape Cinema
05-12 Dennis, MA - Cape Cinema
05-15 Somerset, United Kingdom - Minehead (All Tomorrow's Parties)
05-18 Brighton, United Kingdom - Dome (Brighton Festival) *
05-19 Dusseldorf, Germany - Zakk
05-20 Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefaehrlich
05-23 Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Music Festival
06-06 Birmingham, AL - Workplay ^
06-07 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse ^
06-08 Orlando, FL - Plaza ^
06-09 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution ^
06-10 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theater ^
06-13 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival 2009
06-30 London, England - Hyde Park (Serpentine Sessions)
07-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Twilight Concert Series !
07-11 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
07-14 Santa Barbara, CA - Granada Theatre %
07-16 Fresno, CA - Tower Theatre %
07-18 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery %
07-25 Dorset, England - Camp Bestival
08-07 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival 2009
08-14 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-15 Haldern, Germany - Haldern Pop
08-16 Leicester, United Kingdom - Summer Sundae
08-20 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-21 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands 2009
08-22 Powys, United Kingdom - Green Man Festival
10-03 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

* with The Acorn
^ with Elvis Perkins in Dearland
! with Jenny Lewis
% Justin Vernon solo, with the Indigo Girls

Going Viral

The sheer number of viruses on Earth is beyond our ability to imagine. “In a small drop of water there are a billion viruses,” Dr. Wolkowicz said. Virologists have estimated that there are a million trillion trillion viruses in the world’s oceans.

Viruses are also turning out to be astonishingly diverse. Shannon Williamson of the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., has been analyzing the genes of ocean viruses. A tank of 100 to 200 liters of sea water may hold 100,000 genetically distinct viruses.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Radiohead's manager Brian Message says he advised the band to split during the recording of last album 'In Rainbows'.

Speaking at the Music Managers Forum in Dublin, Message explained that the Oxford band initially found it difficult to get started on the 2007 album.

"Radiohead are a once-in-a-generation act," he explained. "But you have to be honest if it's not working."

Message added that although the band were tired, they chose to ignore his advice.

The manager also revealed that it was not the band who came up with the idea of releasing 'In Rainbows' with a pay-what-you-like scheme, reports The Guardian.

"Two of my partners in the management company came up with the idea of pay-what-you-like," he explained.

"Both the band and us were really excited about doing something brave and a bit wacky...we realised that by using the internet for the delivery of the album, we could reach 173 countries and it would cost us less than three cents a copy for distribution."

Speaking about music and the internet in general, Message said he believes Radiohead are "out of step" with the record industry on the major issues, adding that he thinks file-sharing should not be illegal.

"We believe file-sharing by peer-to-peer should be legalised," he explained. "The sharing of music where it is not for profit is a great thing for culture and music."

The Top Ten Adult Stars Gone Legit

I love that Paris Hilton makes the list.

Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan get interviewed

New York Magazine asks Ms. Khan about hanging out with Radiohead, the Brooklyn music scene, alter egos, and Karate Kid.

Bat For Lashes does Letterman

Baby Names Quantify the Faddishness of Fads

Baby names change with the winds of fashion and new research suggests the faster they get popular, the faster they get lame.

Take Tricia. Back in the 1950s, almost nobody named their baby girls Tricia. By the 1970s, the name had skyrocketed to the 144th most popular girl’s name and then just as quickly, Tricia fell back into disuse. It’s no longer in the top 1,000 names for girls. Literally hundreds of other names have followed similar trajectories.

It turns out that a name’s sad tumble into obscurity is tightly correlated with the speed of its rise. And that principle — what goes up quickly, must come down quickly — could be applicable to a broader set of memes.

External Airbag Protects Pedestrians

Researchers at Cranfield University in England have developed an external airbag they say will significantly reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries in the event of a crash.

The system deploys a hood - or bonnet, as the British call it - airbag at the base of the windshield, which research shows is where a pedestrian’s head is most likely to hit. The system uses radar and infrared technology to “pre-detect” a collision and inflates quickly enough to cushion the impact.

NASA's new e-nose can detect scent of cancerous brain cells

NASA's recently developed electronic nose, intended for air quality monitoring on Space Shuttle Endeavour and later the International Space Station, has a rather fortunate and unintended secondary role.

In addition to being able to detect contaminants within about one to 10,000 parts per million, scientists have discovered it can also sniff out the difference in odor between normal and cancerous brain cells -- not a new use for e-noses, but certainly one that helps to advance the field.

Groups such the as Brain Mapping Foundation, City of Hope Cancer Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been testing the technology and hope it one day leads to a new understanding of cancer development.

HyperMac external battery powers MacBooks for 32 hours

Sanho's Hypermac is a big clunky external battery pack.

Sure, we're intrigued by the idea of running our MacBook Pro for 32 hours straight, but we'd really rather hunt around for a power outlet than drop $500 on the 222Wh unit required to make that happen.

On the other hand, we could definitely see splurging for the $150 car charger.

Shipping later this month, we're told.

Vice Squad

The ubiquity of skulls on clothing has created a funnel effect, and at the bottom of that funnel are the Australian raver dads you see changing planes in the Berlin airport wearing distressed skull silkscreens on their pink golf shirts. That’s who is supposed to be wearing skulls today. Not this girl.

Hey everyone, it's Bob & David!

Fail of the Day