Not quite as absurd as the rail network planned which will see travel between London and Beijing possible in just two days, but some may think the idea of bullet trains in California is pretty darn crazy. More

Japan may be famous for its bullet trains, but if China’s plans for a high-speed railway go forward, people could be zipping over from London to Beijing in under two days. The train would go on from Beijing to Singapore, and also connect to India and Pakistan, opening up the East to non-fliers. One of the senior consultants on the railway project, and also a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Wang Mengshu, said that they are “aiming for the trains to run almost as fast as aeroplanes,” and that with any luck, the railway should be “completed in a decade.” In addition to the London to Beijing plan, they’re also hoping to build railways from Beijing to Russia and Germany, connected with the European railway system. A third project that goes south from China, to Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia has already started, with a deal struck between Burma and China that will see the Chinese paying for the Burmese line, with the Chinese able to tap into their lithium reserves—which they can then use in production of batteries.

Sure, we could rattle off a list of specs — and if you’re curiuos, it’s a 9.1 megapixel sensor with 3x optical zoom and 720p video — but you know what’s really gonna have Casio’s Exilim EX-FS10S flying off shelves? The ability to stand it behind your tee and show you exactly how you screw up your swing, with special help of the company’s trademark 1000 frames per second burst mode. The catch is, while the EX-FS10 is already available in US , only the Japanese model seems to have your golf buddy. Bummer.

And you thought nothing could beat the Jesus Switch as the worst Wrongmodo ever, didn’t you? I said: DIDN’T YOU? Well, Jason and I did, but the—absolutely hilarious—Polish Penis Train has proved us oh-so-wrong . [ DRB ]

This crow vending machine was created by Joshua Klein with the aim of training crows to gather loose coins in exchange for food. The idea is that they’ll start teaching each other the behavior. The goal of this project is to create a device that will autonomously train crows. So far we’ve trained captive crows to deposit dropped coins they find on the ground in exchange for peanuts. The next step is to see how quickly we can get wild crows to learn the system, and then how quickly they can learn it from each other

Lance Armstrong received surgery to more quickly fix his collarbone, which was broken into 4 pieces during a bicycle race in Spain. I wonder if he knows that the metal from the screws can set off the metal detectors in airports sometimes. (I have a titanium rod in my left tibia and the left over screw shavings set off the alarms 50% of the time, especially in higher security airports. True, as confirmed by the hand wands during the manual pat down.) He’ll be back on a training bike in a few days, with his chances for the Tour in July still up in the air. Feel better, Lance

The technology behind Neurosky’s Mindset is essentially the same that was peddled around last year at trade shows. The only difference now is that it’s ready for PC gaming consumption starting in July. For those in the dark, the Neurosky Mindset , is a gaming controller that monitors brainwaves, and uses those readings to carry out specific actions within a game. In demos, this includes sliding boxes, lifting objects, and setting crap on fire. It also doubles as a pair of Headphones with a bluetooth mic built-in.

With this latest news of a pulled hamstring to go along with his fractured foot , Steve Wozniak is starting to resemble the nerd equivalent of Brett Favre on ‘ Dancing With The Stars .’ Previously listed as doubtful, Woz confirmed he will dance tonight even if he isn’t at 100%. According to the SF Chronicle, Woz wrote on his Facebook page: “I am constrained in movement a bit so my hip shaking may be low for the Samba, but I’ll push through,” Wozniak wrote in a Facebook posting. “I assure you I am trying hard.” This is how legends are made , kids. [ SF Gate ]

Best Buy , like many other stores, has a public “price matching” policy . But HD Guru reports that according to internal docs, personnel are trained to deny price-matches and even paid bonuses for shutting them down. This all comes out of a lawsuit that was just granted class action status. Internal documents, plus depositions from past and current Best Buy employees reveal just how evil Best Buy is. A price match is when, say, Circuit City advertised a Sharp HDTV for cheaper than Best Buy, Best Buy’s public policy is to match that price. But Best Buy actually trains employees in New York how to deny legitimate price match requests, and the average Best Buy store denies 100 price matches a week.

As I watched this video of the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, my mind went from mild amusement to surprising awe to absolute astonishment. At 11,840 square feet, the world’s largest model defies belief: It took 500,000 working hours to build, going from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden to North America, through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland—complete with the Grand Canyon, 20-foot tall Swiss mountains, and: • 800 trains. • Over 10,000 train cars in total, running several hundred kilometers every day. • One train is 47.5 feet long.