Quake

Recent quake activity raising fears in Yellowstone.

...a wave of recent earthquake activity is raising fears that have their origins 642,000 years ago, when a Yellowstone "supervolcano" exploded so violently that it created the caldera itself. Today, such an explosion — 1,000 times more powerful than the explosion of Mount St. Helens in 1980 — would not only cover most of the U.S. with ash but also throw so much dust into the atmosphere that the world's climate could change.

Transcendental Medication

CNN on the lasting positive effects of "magic mushrooms":



I haven't shroomed in years. Now I'm tempted...

Sweet Dreams

Sleeping late is good for you.

Until the invention of the lightbulb (damn you, Edison!), the average person slumbered 10 hours a night.

Fox Sux

Fox News ticker: 'Let's hope the magic negro does a good job'

During it's broadcast from New York City, the network encouraged viewers to send in text messages which, if approved by moderators, would scroll across the Fox ticker at the bottom of the screen.

Moderators, however, let this one slip: "HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET’S HOPE THE MAGIC NEGRO DOES A GOOD JOB. LOVE JEN AND JOHN C."

"Slip," meaning the comment either just 'got past' a negligent moderator, or said moderator thought it was appropriate for broadcast.

Chip Saltsman, a candidate to lead the Republican National Committee, distributed a CD to RNC members containing the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro," that has been a source of loud, public GOP infighting over the holiday season.

Auction

Broke American states to privatize parks & roads?

Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.

Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.

They're gonna fuck up our parks and let our roads go to shit.

Uninvited Guest

Family finds man living in their attic.

Police in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, found a 21-year-old man in the attic of a duplex apartment after the occupants reported missing cash, a laptop computer, and an iPod. Footprints were spotted in a bedroom closet where a trap door leads to the attic.

Beam

Police forces may get "pain ray".

Order Out of Chaos

The US Army is ready to deal with civil unrest as the economy heads south.

Baby Hitler Gets His Cake

Some rednecks named their child Adolf Hitler.

A three-year-old boy called Adolf Hitler Campbell has been refused a birthday cake with his name on it by a New Jersey supermarket.

Heath Campbell, 35, and his wife, Deborah, 25, say they are upset at the decision made by their local ShopRite not to write "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler" across the cake, and that people needed to move forward.

Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because "no one else in the world would have that name".

"They need to accept a name. A name's a name. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what [Hitler] did," he said.

Not to be defeated, the family ended up getting their cake decorated at a Walmart in Pennsylvania.

The problem is likely to be one they face again – their younger children are JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who is nearly two, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, named after the SS head Heinrich Himmler. Honszlynn turns one in April.

These idiots shouldn't even be breeding in the first fucking place.

Footloose

Demand for the "Bush shoe" soars, creates 100 jobs.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

Save the Homophobes

Pope says humanity needs protection from homosexual behavior.

Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

"The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."

This is a joke, right? I'm going to go out and offer my gay friends head right now.

Vigilante Injustice

Of all the fucked up stories to come out of Hurricane Katrina, the shootings of black residents trying to escape the flooding by white "vigilantes" is among the most disturbing. At least 11 people had been shot and the authorities don't seem to be concerned.



At least 11 black people were shot by white gunmen in the days following Hurricane Katrina's destruction of New Orleans, and in the three years since those crimes, little has been done by law enforcement.

According to an 18-month investigation published in The Nation, a predominantly white neighborhood formed a militia after the levees broke to simply keep out people who "didn't belong."

But the investigation reveals a more sinister outcome: black men suffering brutal and unprovoked attacks from white men armed with shotguns, handguns and even assault rifles.

Read the rest here. Democracy Now! has more reporting on the situation here.

Ultraviolence

Many US teens believe "violent behavior is at least sometimes acceptable".

More than a quarter of all U.S. teenagers think violent behavior is at least sometimes acceptable, and one in five say they behaved violently toward another person in the past year, according to a new poll.

I always take surveys of young people with a grain of salt. I lied my ass off on those things back in the day.

Deadly America

US natural disaster hot spots revealed.

A Page in History

Pin-up queen Bettie Page passes away at 85.

Brainiac

2,000 year-old brain found in Britain.

British archaeologists have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise — an unusually well-preserved brain. Scientists said Friday that the mass of gray matter was more than 2,000 years old — the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation.

Think the Japanese dudes with the brain camera could be of some help?

Cheaters

Student cheating on the rise. You darn kids!

Home Away from Home

Chinese investors buying up foreclosed US homes.

Reporting from Shanghai -- Caravans of cash-rich Chinese in Hummers and Lincoln Navigators have been weaving through American neighborhoods in recent months, looking for foreclosures and other bargain properties to buy.

With housing prices crashing in the U.S., home-buying trips to America are becoming one of the more popular tour group packages in China. New U.S. visa rules for Chinese tourists and a loosening of foreign investment policies by China have made it easier for people such as Zhao Hongjun of Beijing to go house hunting across the Pacific.

Spam Rides Again

You know times are tough when Spam is flying off the shelves.

In times of trouble the United States has historically turned to a tin of pink processed meat to see it through – and so it is again that sales of Spam are soaring as the recession bites.

They have shot up by more than 10 per cent in the past three months and the Hormel Foods Corporation has had to introduce a double shift at its factory in Austin, Minnesota, seven days a week to keep up with demand.

Occupation

Workers occupy Chicago factory, demand severance & vacation pay.

Psycho Spud

Lebanese farmer grows giant potato. I ain't eating that thing.

Dog Save Dog World

A dog rescues another dog who has been hit by a car.

Arctic World

Life at the poles.



The first comprehensive inventory of the sea and land animals living in a polar region has been carried out by British and German scientists.

Drug War

Were the Mumbai terrorists fueled by cocaine and LSD?

"We found injections containing traces of cocaine and LSD left behind by the terrorists, and later found drugs in their blood," the Telegraph was told by one official, whose nationality and relation to the investigation were not specified. "This explains why they managed to battle the commandos for over 50 hours with no food or sleep."

Black Friday Indeed

'Tis the season to abandon reason. One Wal-Mart employee was killed & a pregnant woman injured during a stampede of customers wanting to find mind-blowing, undergarment moistening deals. Apparently they were beginning to rip the doors from their hinges. Meanwhile, across the country two men shot and killed one another in a Toys R Us.

Malware Ruins Lives

Pop-Up ads killed this teacher's career.

Ms. Amero, a substitute teacher prosecuted on felony charges after a malware-infected computer in her classroom began spewing ads for adult entertainment sites, agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge, pay a $100 fine, and surrender her credentials to teach in the state of Connecticut.

The incident occurred in October 2004. Parents of some students complained, and the school district contacted the police. To the dismay of forensics experts, the district was unable to provide firewall records or prove that any significant anti-malware protections were installed on Amero's machine, although she had been instructed never to shut it off.

The original trial, in which Amero was convicted on all counts and faced a maximum of forty years in prison, barred the defense from presenting expert testimony on how pop-ups work, and included bizarre tech claims by Lounsbury. For example: "When you link on a link, again, links are Javascripted, you click on a link, it changes color..."

Read the the article here.

Church and State

If you voted for Obama, this California priest wants you to confess.

The Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, Calif., said voting for a pro-choice candidate amounted to a punishable sin.

I must confess... I want to punch him in the head.

Live by the Sword

A dude wielding two samurai swords was shot by a guard at the Church of Scientology's Celebrity Centre in Hollywood Sunday.

...the man had a history with the church but was not a member now. The tape showed the man arriving at the Celebrity Centre's Bronson Avenue parking lot in a red convertible, getting out of the vehicle and approaching a trio of security guards and waving a sword in each hand ... the man, who was described as being in his 40s, was "close enough to hurt them" when the guard fired.

The Coming Quake?

FEMA predicts a catastrophic earthquake for the American south and midwest.

FEMA predicted a large earthquake would cause "widespread and catastrophic physical damage" across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee -- home to some 44 million people.

Tennessee is likely to be hardest hit, according to the study that sought to gauge the impact of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in order to guide the government's response.

In Tennessee alone, it forecast hundreds of collapsed bridges, tens of thousands of severely damaged buildings and a half a million households without water.

Transportation systems and hospitals would be wrecked, and police and fire departments impaired, the study said.

Unhappy Hour

Britain considering a ban on happy hour in an effort to curb drinking related deaths.

Britain is considering a ban on "happy hour" discounts at bars and restaurants to curb drinking, a spokesman said Saturday, as health advocates warned that a rise in liver-related deaths among young people may signal a future epidemic.

Dire Predictions

A new intelligence report suggests tough times ahead.

...the latest Global Trends report says that rising economies such as China, India, Russia and Brazil will offer the US more competition at the top of a multi-polar international system.

The EU is meanwhile predicted to become a "hobbled giant", unable to turn its economic power into diplomatic or military muscle.

A world with more power centres will be less stable than one with one or two superpowers, it says, offering more potential for conflict.

Global warming, along with rising populations and economic growth will put additional strains on natural resources, it warns, fuelling conflict around the globe as countries compete for them.

"Strategic rivalries are most likely to revolve around trade, investments and technological innovation and acquisition, but we cannot rule out a 19th Century-like scenario of arms races, territorial expansion and military rivalries," the report says.

"Types of conflict we have not seen for a while - such as over resources - could re-emerge."

Such conflicts and resource shortages could lead to the collapse of governments in Africa and South Asia, and the rise of organised crime in Eastern and Central Europe, it adds.

And the use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely, the report says, as "rogue states" and militant groups gain greater access to them.

Read the article here.

Deathcam

Teen commits suicide live on web.

The family of a college student who killed himself live on the Internet say they're horrified his life ended before a virtual audience, and infuriated that viewers of the live webcam or operators of the Web site that hosted it didn't act sooner to save him.

As police entered the room, the audience's reaction was filled with Internet shorthand: "OMFG," one wrote, meaning "Oh, my God." Others, either not knowing what they were seeing, or not caring, wrote "lol," which means "laughing out loud," and "hahahah."

Idiots LOLing as a child lay dying. What a wonderful world...

Ambushed

A journalist's Obama election celebration ends in jail.

Even the police were swept up in the mood, smiling and posing for photos. An occasional handful of students would venture into the streets to high-five enthusiastic, honking motorists, only to be waved back by the police, but otherwise, it was as peaceful and well-behaved as a high school pep rally.

Then I looked up the street, to where the police had blocked off St. Paul Street with almost a dozen cruisers. A phalanx of about a dozen cops had lined up.

They began marching, and I saw one of the cops holding a pile of plastic flexicuffs. No one had a bullhorn or a PA. They just moved into the crowd and started yelling at people. There was no clear officer in charge, just a group of belligerent, angry police.

My brother came running up the sidewalk. "Some guy just got tasered!" he said. I saw some cops walking back toward us, so I crossed the street to stay out of their way. The first arrestees were being led to the paddy wagon. I pulled out my cell phone and started snapping pictures.

A beefy officer saw me taking photos and approached. I held my hands at my side and said, "I'm a journalist. I'm just taking pictures."

He slapped my cell phone out of my hand and grabbed my shirt. "Well, write a nice, long story about this," he said, spinning me around as another officer cuffed me. I was in the paddy wagon before I could even comprehend what was happening. After processing at Northern District I was thrown into a concrete cell, strip-searched, fingerprinted, and subject to the singular degradation of a long night spent in Central Booking.

Read the entire story here.

Extreme Home Takeover

Squatters take over multimillion dollar estate.

Five squatters made their entrance last month by donning high-visibility jackets, to make them look like builders, and putting up a rented ladder against the front of the building. One man climbed up on to a balcony, and was delighted to find an unlocked window.

They have since connected up to the utilities, and say that they will pay their energy bills. Bedding paraphernalia, rucksacks and "artworks" cover the floors. The new tenants feed themselves by rummaging in bins. They claim that far from damaging the house, they are improving it after years of neglect, and deny that they are breaking the law.

"Other people can come here," one of the squatters, 21-year-old Stephanie Smith, said. "We want people to use it as project space. People can work here, stay wherever they want."

No Stresspassing

China: the world's most stressful society?

Staged Fright

Did cops stage a violent confrontation during Democratic convention?

Dark Flow

What's waiting for us in the depths of space?

On the outskirts of creation, unknown, unseen "structures" are tugging on our universe like cosmic magnets, a controversial new study says.

Everything in the known universe is said to be racing toward the massive clumps of matter at more than 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) an hour—a movement the researchers have dubbed dark flow.

The presence of the extra-universal matter suggests that our universe is part of something bigger—a multiverse—and that whatever is out there is very different from the universe we know, according to study leader Alexander Kashlinsky, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Read more here.

Gun Grab

Obama's election sparks a rise in gun sales.

At 9 a.m. today, the counter was already crowded at Cheaper Than Dirt, a discount gun and ammunition store in Fort Worth, Texas.

"Everyone is here for the same reason: Buy it now or you're not going to have a chance in the future," said Charlie Street, a gun owner.

"Election Day, people wake up and say, 'Obama, oh my!'" said Dewayne Irwin, owner of Cheaper Than Dirt. "It's the knee-jerk reaction but it's good for business."

Killing Time

5 more homeless people murdered in Los Angeles.

Five homeless people -- three men and two women -- were found shot dead on Sunday in Los Angeles area, a police spokesman said.

Several homeless people have been attacks these past few months in the Los Angeles region, a city of 10 million inhabitants where some 73,000 homeless people are estimated to be living.

No Treats for You!

Woman denies Halloween candy to kids of Obama supporters.

TV station WJBK says a sign outside Nagel's house warned: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."

Nagel calls Barack Obama "scary."

When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

What a stupid bitch! I have a feeling she'll become quite familiar with flaming bags of dog shit, flying eggs, and TPed trees in the coming years as the neighborhood children seek revenge. That's why they call it trick or treat after all.