Meet the manikins (not to be confused with mankinis), medical dummies (spelled "manikin", apparently) used to train future doctors on how to do the bare minimum to keep you alive that the HMO will pay for. There are all types, from the sexy Overweight CPR manikin to the Deluxe Child Crisis manikin. My favorite is the Multi Man CPR manikin, because it reminds me of last weekend. Vote on your favorite, then report back here and we'll compare notes. Next week we'll feature Manikin II: On The Move. [Medical Mainikins on Oobject]

The alien is made around a steel armature, with a fully-posable tail, resting on top of a 4 by 2-feet wood base. The head is made of resin and rigid foam, with a vacu-form dome. The body and tails are made of latex and polyfoam. All this plus a potential heart attack will only cost you $5,200, drooling gel not included. [The Contaminated]

Update: The commenters pointed out that it's the alien from Stephen Chow's new movie CJ7. I personally heard the movie was pretty awful, but I haven't actually seen it yet. – JC

In fact, security broke down on a number of levels—including areas where nuclear weapons are stored. To put this baffling stupidity in perspective, consider this: after Col. Joel Westa took command of the 5th Bomb Wing post-nuke debacle, he was quoted as saying that this inspection was going to be the "most scrutinized inspection in the history of time." And the most terrifying part is that the wing will keep its certification to handle nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future. I feel safe...how about you? [Air Force Times via Wired]

Elsewhere, audiophiles on the Head-Fi forums are complaining that the update brought "hiss" and "static" to the classic, and others say that the firmware froze their iPods or restored them inadvertently. (Note: We have not noticed any irregularities like this after extended use with our own updated classic.)

So what's the reason behind all this? Is El Jobso trying to control our minds with hypnotic pulses again? Make us switch to the iPhone? Per usual, Apple does not have any response to the matter. If a new firmware update comes soon, well, that's probably as good a confirmation as we're ever gonna get. [The Street]

It appears that part of the problem is due to the FBI being unable to keep track of their complicated bill. Other problems stem from the telecoms billing the FBI multiple times for individual surveillance warrants. Former FBI agent and now ACLU national security policy counsel Mike German noted that the telecoms were letting the government engage in spying without warrants and allowed them to illegally get customer records. He noted: "To put it bluntly it sounds as though the telecoms believe it when FBI says warrant is in the mail but not when they say the check is in the mail."

If all of this doesn't make you laugh and scare the hell out of you at the same time, I don't know what will. [Wired]

Product Page [Strapya World via Tokyo Mango]

New York suffered similar end-of-the-world-like disbelief, as "one Wall Street analyst said she kept hitting her BlackBerry's version of a 'refresh' button, not believing that the system could fail." Also in New York, Charles Ross, a criminal defense lawyer, was left feeling "vulnerable and uncomfortable."

Yes, that's how we're strangely feeling right now: vulnerable and uncomfortable. – Matt Buchanan

BlackBerry e-mail outage upsets White House, Wall St [Reuters/Yahoo!]

This knocker is an old-tyme knocker fastened to your door, but with half of a severed arm firmly gripping the end. Mildly scary in-and-of-itself, but there's also a motion sensor that detects when someone's approaching and activates the arm to start knocking by itself! Both frightening and cool, in the same way that Orlando Bloom is both masculine and feminine.

Note, this is totally different from giving yourself "the stranger". That's another animal entirely. Available now for $14.99 plus the cost of 3 AA batteries. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Fright Catalog via Coolest Gadgets]