Hasta La Gadget!

Just as you were getting to the bottom of the cartoon characters as profile pictures phenomenon, another odd trend rears its head on Facebook. This time out, it’s a bunch of numbers in users’ status updates. The reason behind them isn’t quite as grandiose as the cartoon characters’ attempt to end child abuse. The numbers are actually part of a game called, simply enough “The Number Game.”

It’s a goofy little game–in fact “game” seems like something of a charitable description of the whole thing. It’s more like passing one of those “Do You Like Me? []Yes []No [] Maybe” notes in class.

The rules are fitting simple. Send a friend a random number and they post a status update with their thoughts about you featuring it. Here’s an example from the game’s Facebook site,

Number sent to you: 21
Status: True friend; you’ve always been there and I’m grateful for our relationship!

Reads a bit like it’s been translated verbatim from another language, doesn’t it?

The Number Game’s organizers are making a big push to take the thing viral, and judging from all of the press it’s been getting, they’re doing a pretty good job with it.

We all know how unsightly it can be when you have six different gadgets all plugged into one power strip. The cords are all tangled up, and it can really throw off the feel of a nice, neat room. Thanks to the good people at ThinkGeek, you can hide all the clutter with a nice planter full of luscious fake grass. The Grassy Lawn Charging Station gently cushions your electronics while they charge in the bed of greens.

A compartment underneath the grass hides all of the power adapters and cables. You just have to run a standard extension cable into the bottom of the base, plug in all your power adapters, and then snake the charging cables up through the grass. The planters is 11-by-7-by-4.35-inches in size. It costs $24.99 at ThinkGeek.

This is the perfect gift for that plant-lover in your life who likes to keep things clutter-free. No one needs to know the grass is fake, right?

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail over fears that he will ultimately fail to surrender. The 39-year-old Australian turned himself into London police after a warrant for his arrest was issued in England. Assange was wanted for non-consensual sex charges in Sweden.

Filmmaker Ken Loach and journalist John Pilger told the court they would monitor Assange, were he released on bail. The judge ultimately ruled, however, that the risk that the WikiLeaks founder would run was too great and that the charges were too serious.

“This case is not, on the face of it, about WikiLeaks,” Judge Howard Riddle said in his ruling. “It is an allegation in another European country of serious sexual offences alleged to have occurred on three separate occasions and involving two separate victims.”

Former Playboy Playmate and Baywatch star Donna D’Errico claims that she was singled out by the TSA for a full body scan based on her looks. The 42-year-old model/actress was flying out of LAX, on the way to Pittsburgh with her 17-year-old son, Rhyan to visit a relative who was on life support.

D’Errico told AOL,

I said I was traveling with my son, motioning to him, and the agent said he was to come long with me as well.I immediately asked why we were having to go through an extra search, and no one else was being made to do so, indicating the long line of other passengers in front of and behind where we had been in line. In a very sarcastic tone, and still holding me by the elbow, the agent responded, ‘Because you caught my eye, and they [pointing to the other passengers] didn’t.’

The actress says she believes that she was singled out for a scan because of the way she looks. Her boyfriend, she adds, wasn’t singled out even though he fits “the stereotypical ‘look’ of a terrorist when his beard has grown in a bit, which it was that evening.”

D’Errico adds that she was not given the option of a pat down–an option she would have take. Instead, she was told to walk into the full body scanner and raise up her arms. Her son, meanwhile, was given both the scan and a pat down.

“After the search, I noticed that the male TSA agent who had pulled me out of line was smiling and whispering with two other TSA agents and glancing at me,” she said. “I was outraged.”