Two things. One, it's obviously Christmastime. Unless, of course, it's Halloween and Reindeer Man's wearing the world's laziest costume. Two, what's his friend doing? Holding his hair? Holding his head down so he doesn't splatter on his shoes? Google Street View should really stop and ask for clarification when they pass by scenes like this. [Google Maps UK via T3]

Update: British people are saying it's after a stag party, not at Christmas time. A thousand pardons, drunkards.

The kid bought the gun for $15 while on vacation in Bulgaria, which makes Bulgaria sound like kind of a badass place to go on vacation, and smuggled the device (capable of up to 30,000 volts) into school. He zapped three of his classmates, apparently not realizing that assault with a weapon is actually against the law, and was arrested shortly thereafter.

It's kind of a scary story, since "stun gun" could all too easily be replaced with "real gun," and the results would be a lot worse. This particular gun is not very dangerous, certainly not strong enough to kill anybody, but he probably didn't know that. The kid apparently "feels sorry" for acting like a jackass, which is nice of him, I guess. But the real villain here is the nation of Bulgaria. What gives, guys? Do you not have regulated crowd control arms sales or something? [Mail Online]

Parking
Road signs pointing to garages were said to be misleading, and some signs inside the garages were inaccurate. Furthermore, there were complaints about problems paying for parking and exiting the structures.
Check In
On day one, check in counters were not open at 4am, meaning some ticketholders had to start lining up, causing a backlog that certainly didn't help the launch. By noon, 20 flights had been canceled because of baggage handling problems.

Baggage
Here's the heart of the issue at Terminal 5's launch. The luggage system was designed to be streamlined as a checkpoint for travelers, on the way to the plane.

BAA also enthuses about technology like the baggage drop, which hoists suitcases to an underfloor belt, enabling passengers to walk forward to departures rather than turning around. "It's on the way, not in the way," quips Ms. Kearney.

Exaggerating all of this, the belt system jammed at one point. Sometime on day one, the airlines had no choice but to only check in those without baggage.

To add insult to injury, the Terminal 5 system has also lost the luggage of a passenger who died traveling back from Hong Kong, who is a son of an ex British Airways employee. He said, "To lose the luggage of a dead person is unforgivable."

In the end, British Airways has claimed responsibility for 15,000 bags were stranded at Heathrow. There is speculation that this number may have been has high as 20,000.

Flight Control
Not much went wrong here. Thank god. Last I checked, there were weather related delays, but that's not something you can plan to avoid. But the problems with check ins, resulting from lines and baggage problems, did result in 34 flights being canceled on day one.

Security
"Twenty security lanes promise speedier passage, though domestic travelers will now be fingerprinted."
Since people couldn't get through check in and baggage handling issues, security was probably not taxed.

Testing

In truth, they'll get this stuff ironed out. Eventually.

Terminal 5, by the numbers:

Cost: £4.3bn
Construction: September 2002 to March 2008
Number of passengers annually: 30 million

Phase 1: opening 2008 Terminal 5A and B
50 aircraft stands (total)

Phase 2: opening 2010 Terminal 5C
60 aircraft stands (total)

Terminal 5A dimensions: 396m long x 176m wide x 40m high
Levels above ground: 4

Terminal 5B dimensions: 442m long x 52m wide x 19.5m high
Levels above ground: 3

Multi-storey car park: 3,800 spaces
Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel: 605 rooms (opens June)

Rail links: Heathrow Express
London Underground Piccadilly Line

Check-in self service kiosks: 96
Check-in fast bag drops: over 90
Check-in standard desks: 54

Security zones: 2 (north and south)
Security lanes: 20
Baggage reclaim belts: 11
Length of bag conveyers: 17 km
No of bags processed per hour: 12,000

Number of lifts: 192
Number of escalators: 105
Number of seats: 9,140 (excluding catering outlets)
Number of toilet blocks: 112
Number of toilets: 800
Number of baby change facilities: 32
Childrens' play areas: 3 (for toddlers to 7 year olds)
Number of retail facilities: 112 (including 25 food and drink outlets)

[CS Monitor, Forbes, NYTimes, NYTimes, BBC, Airport-Technology, BAA]

The Sun reports on a British mechanic who has had relations with "more than 30 different models in 20 years — plus two motorboats and a pal's JETSKI".

Wow. Whether or not cars are your cup of tea, this guy is inarguable a stud.

Mechanic: I Have Sex With Cars [via jalopnik]

There, kinda like how the British Office puts the American Office to shame. – Nicholas Deleon

Get a Mac - Watch The New Ads [Apple UK and Ireland]