The Wheelie Bin Urinal concept, which I shouldn't have to tell you came from England, came from England, the only country where public micturation is subject to stylistic regulation. It looks like a normal trash can you'd see on any street in the UK, except for a curious, and curiously labeled, little portal. This is for your junk.

As you can see in the video below, given that they were probably planning on peeing in public anyway, people don't seem to reluctant to mount the Wheelie Bin Urinal. But it isn't magic: at da end of da day, you're still stuck with a trash can full of piss. Or, if this is any better, piss and straw. [DesignBoom]

BBC4's Synth Britannia was a sufficiently comprehensive look into the electronic music of postpunk Britain, from the pioneering soundtrack to "A Clockwork Orange" by Wendy Carlos, to experimental groups like OMD, Throbbing Gristle, and early Human League...

on to the pop greats that were my first real introduction to synth music, Depeche Mode and New Order. It ends in the middle '80s as synth music transitioned to club music and rave culture, getting nowhere near this decade's full-circle acceptance of '80s synth and chip sounds in pop.

A lovely way to spend 90 minutes, especially for dorks of a certain age who felt a kinship between early synth pop and the captivating other of both Britain and anything electronic. Too bad it's not available for watching on the BBC's iPlayer. You'll have to check the box where you keep your synthesized television experience.

Basically, these stone markers were a like a primitive GPS—and the accuracy was quite astounding. Researcher Tom Brooks explains:

'The sides of some of the triangles are over 100 miles across on each side and yet the distances are accurate to within 100 metres. You cannot do that by chance.

'So advanced, sophisticated and accurate is the geometrical surveying now discovered, that we must review fundamentally the perception of our Stone Age forebears as primitive, or conclude that they received some form of external guidance.

Yes, "external guidance." Egyptians, Mayans, Stone Age Britons—it's got to be aliens. Either that, or Google has invented time travel conquer ancient landscapes starting with "Pangea Maps." [Daily Mail via Digg]

The justification for this action is that if kids have structured upbringings, they won't get sucked into street crime and drugs. And because the housing is subsidized, the government isn't technically putting cameras in private homes; these are public homes.

But still, the precedent this sets is terrifying. This is the definition of a nanny state, a government that doesn't trust its citizens to live their lives autonomously so it sticks its nose into every little aspect of them for their own good.

Really, I think this can all be traced back to the Children's Secretary, Ed Balls. I mean, obviously Mr. Balls was mocked mercilessly as a child for his hilarious name. But really, Balls, do you have to take it out on the children of Britain? [Daily Express via Gadget Lab]

We don't know much about the actual gloves, seemingly built from plywood and a couple of dustbusters, so we've got a bit of doubt about the whole enterprise, especially as it's described by the BBC itself as a "stunt." But whatever: There's a guy climbing the side of a building! [BBC News via Geekologie]

The tiny tankers are designed to realistically mimic the driving conditions of their full-sized brothers, with a slightly gentler learning curve. Emergency situations (like a failing engine) can be remotely triggered for training purposes. Oh, and feel free to quote that episode of The Simpsons with the big guy in the tiny car. That's what you guys are here for. [DVICE]

Car modder Perry Watkins took the frame of the "Postman Pat" children's ride and mounted it on a quad mini-bike, using its 150cc engine. The car features a windshield wiper, lights and signals, mirrors, and even a Pimp My Ride-worthy paint job and fake racing exhaust pipes. The car, christened "The Wind-Up," can hit 40 miles per hour in what we're sure is an incredibly uncomfortable and scary ride. We question the wisdom of granting this thing a street-legal license, but for a nation of people that exclusively drives on the wrong side of the road, we guess anything goes. [The Sun via DVICE, image via The Sun]

Peter Nelson has spent most of his life and money assembling James Bond equipment scattered across the globe. But his museum collection includes vehicles representing almost every Bond film, ranging from a typical Aston Martin DB5 to the 42-ton Russian tank from Goldeneye.

Just nobody tell Nelson that James Bond isn't real. At this point, it will destroy him. [James Bond Museum and News & Star via Wired]

Note: Getty image of 1976 Lotus Esprit Coupe from 'The Spy Who Loved Me' - spotted at a recent auction.

The scooter planned its move carefully. It knew the woman's husband, recovering from a triple-bypass surgery, would be unable to chase after it. It waited until its innocent owner had dozed off, leaving her incapacitated and vulnerable. And it even showed signs of weakness prior to the kidnapping attempt, appearing unreliable, so when it did make its move, it would be all the more shocking.

It did not, however, account for the superior force of the Cornwall police department, which found it "swerving" on the highway five miles from home. The Cornish police captured the scooter and returned it to its now-wary owner. According to the BBC, "It took [officer] Michael Ginnelly an hour to drive the scooter back to Perranporth."

Said owner Eileen Bishop, "I just lost him. I was half asleep to tell you the truth."

Chilling. [BBC, image also BBC]

The painting stood for almost a year until a helicopter noticed it and contacted the Sun newspaper. The Sun followed up by contacting the owner who thought the whole thing must be some sort of joke:

He said: "It's an April Fool's joke, right? There's no way there's a 60ft phallus on top of my house."

Oh yes, Mr. McInnes, there is definitely a 60-foot wang on top of your house. Now what are you going to do about it? Does it involve a belt? A lifetime grounding perhaps?

The boy's father appeared to take the prank in good humour.

But he said: "When Rory gets home he will be given a scrubbing brush and white spirit and he can go and scrub it off."

Oh yeah, that will teach him. Rory did get his comeuppance...in a way. Despite his prank, the house roof remains penis-free according to Google. [Telegraph]

Actually, the 16-foot Lego sculpture is on the final leg of a 1395 mile publicity tour down the river where it will eventually find a home in Windsor's Legoland Kingdom of the Pharaohs attraction, which is set to open March 21. Apparently, it is the biggest Lego structure ever created with 200,000 individual pieces and a weight of more than one ton. I guess record breaking towers don't count. [Nat Geo via Neatorama]

We believe that most (or all) of these shots are just photoshops teasing the actual projector installations. But it seems like a striking idea—to be walking around your city and see a familiar building half-submerged would really put somewhat incogitable concepts like "global climate change" into tangible perspective. [Watermarks Project via bldgblog]

Basically, they are set to roll out these cards to government officials and then on to private citizens as a way for the authorities to to protect identities and safeguard borders—but not a single police station, border entry point, or job center has a reader capable of extracting information from the card's biometric chip.

It took a Cambridge University security expert to explain the obvious:

"If this capability is not there then the biometrics are, in short, a waste of time. I would have thought that the government would have tried to get the readers rolled out as soon as possible as it is only when you get serious deployments that you start to learn what can go wrong."

The government reaction to the situation was swift and decisive:

"We have always said that we would roll out the scheme incrementally. The card will not be as useful as it could be until we have got the volumes out there. There's no prospect in the immediate future for the government directing anybody that you have to buy those things [readers] because we would be placing a burden on these organizations. The manufacturers of the machines have also got to decide whether it is worth their while to produce them. I think that organisations will decide in time that it is better, quicker and cheaper to have them."

Woah, wait a minute! This is going to money? Nobody said anything about money! [Daily Tech via CrunchGear]

Accompanied by a card-like carrying case/base station, the Zumba slips out into an earpiece shaped like one of those old fossilized spiral shellfish. The entire assembly sits on your head, and operates all functions, including texting, through voice commands.

Our lovely presenter can't tell us anything interesting about how this technology works (or more realistically, will one day work), other than that it is linked to some kind of cloud system, much like Google's iPhone voice app. She enthusiastically blames this on extreme secrecy, but it sounds more like second-hand PR speak to me. Also, her demonstration unit appears to be a dummy, and there's no sign that the touted speech recognition capabilities exist yet either.

The Zumba will apparently ship before next year. Or, IA Technology will explode into a massive cloud of unsent patent applications and investors' £100 notes. Either way, we have our eyes on you, Zumba. [BBC]

Indeed, several residents of the village of Conisholme, in Lincolnshire claim that they saw bright streaks in the sky "like an octopus' tentacles" right around the time that the blades were damaged. Others claim that the damage was the result of a "cow-sized ice chunk" and even a "robot stealth bomber."

The Guardian is reporting that these mysterious lights were most likely from fireworks being shot off for one of their 80 year old residents—but that explanation is far too boring and believable. We are worried about are economy but angry (possibly drunk) aliens in robot stealth bombers are flying over England people! Everybody freak out! [NYT via DVICE]

This tunnel is actually one of eight built by the British government during World War 2 as a network of bomb shelters to protect citizens from the German blitz. They could hold 8,000 people and were designed to function for five weeks without any assistance from the outside world. This "protection" even included "a bar and two canteens, not in use, and a billiard room, not to mention functioning water and electricity supplies," reports the New York Times.

However, after their completion, the tunnels were held aside to serve as secret bases of operations for soldiers. They were never used as shelters. Instead, they served as a temporary base for D-Day troops; one even became the European HQ for U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later, in 1944, the tunnels became bastions of counterintelligence, as members of the secret service used them to coordinate resistance movements in Nazi-controlled countries. The tunnels, once filled with Normandy invaders, were decked out with spy gear, telephones and teleprinters.

Today, though, the tunnels are empty, and waiting for some rich playboy real estate tycoon to swoop in and buy them up. Won't you take up that standard, and invite us poor gadget-loving folk to a few parties below the busy London streets? Please? [New york Times]

The city intends to install dozens of the fancy waste receptacles in London's financial district next year. And boy, do they sound expensive!

The technology reduces the shockwave of an explosion — which usually creates devastation by destroying nearby objects such as windows — and because most of the bin is made of steel, it can contain the heat and shrapnel generated. He said that the technology “reduces the peak pressure of an explosion and extinguishes the fireball”.

The green bins will double as an information service called Renew, with large screens on each side of the device relaying the latest news.

Traders walking past on their lunch break will be able to check the latest share prices, but on their way home the screens will display travel information and other news. The authorities will also be able to use the screens to relay urgent security information.

Is it just me or does it seem like every single decision the British government makes hinges on the threat of terrorism? You guys are starting to seem a bit obsessed over there. [Times Online]

I still think it's a little gross, all jiggly like that, but I won't complain one day when I'm wheeled in on a gurney and a 3D rendering saves my life. [Reuters; HeartWorks]

After all that, you've gotta wait through a one-hour holding time. And I didn't even get to use my visa for a student discount. So the sad fact of the matter is that the UK is hardly exceptional in its attempt to track everyone who buys a mobile phone, and I expect it to increasingly be the case—don't be surprised when this particular aspect of Big Brother is imported stateside. After all, can't have no crim'nals or turrists running around with cellphones, and a big database of everyone that legitimately buys one will totally cut off their access. [Times Online via The Raw Feed]