Archive for November, 2010
Zombies Ahead!
From the amusing pranks department, via Reuters:
Arizona drivers were warned of the undead roaming a desert highway near Tucson over the weekend, after a suspected prankster tampered with an electronic road sign, police and news media said.
Someone without a good grasp of spelling reprogrammed a digital road sign on a highway near Marana, northwest of Tucson, to read “Caaution Zombies ahead!,” the Arizona Daily Star newspaper reported on Monday.
Marana Police Department said it appeared to be a practical joke.
“We didn’t get any complaints or any other problems in the area… (and) no reports of zombies…
Rubber People Invade Los Angeles
Olmec Head at La Venta Park, Villahermosa. This colossal head is 2.4 m high (9 ft) and is officially known as Monument 1. Photo: Hajor (CC)
David Littlejohn reports on a new exhibition about the Olmecs, or “Rubber People,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for the Wall Street Journal:
The name “Olmec” (or “rubber people”) was given to the oldest-known culture in the Americas almost 2,000 years after that culture had disappeared, and was accepted by scholars only in 1932. We have no idea what these people of what is now eastern Mexico, just inland from the Gulf at its southernmost point, called themselves. In fact, we know almost nothing about them, except that they seem to have endured from about 2,000 to 400 B.C.
What we do know, or think we know, comes almost entirely from the carved stone monuments and other artifacts that outlived them underground, because stone…
Trinidad Schoolgirls Possessed By Devil
The Trinindad & Tobago Guardian reports that the United States may not be the only country in need of more exorcists:
Panic broke out at the Moruga Composite School yesterday as 17 female students fell mysteriously ill and began rolling on the ground, hissing and blabbering in a strange tongue, after suffering bouts of nausea and headaches. Two of the students reportedly tried to throw themselves off a railing and had to be physically restrained, triggering fears of a possible demon attack.
The drama started during the lunch hour in the Form One block and quickly spread to other areas. Form Five student Kern Mollineau, who attends the Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, said he got worried when the girls’ eyes began rolling up in their heads and they began beating up on the ground.
With the assistance of several other students and teachers, the pupils were taken to the multi-purpose hall where some of them…
A Warning to Humanity: You May Never Reproduce After Watching this Bristol Palin-Situation Safe Sex Ad
It’s admirable to prevent the spread of STDs or educate folks on their intention for parenthood, but you might as well be watching The Exorcist after viewing this “public service announcement.” There are lots of folks on the planet right now, but I don’t want to end the human race by sharing this:
Meet Colleen Thomas: A Prophetess Warning An Obama-Related Alien Attack Was Imminent (Video)
Because the President of the United States took a trip to India … ‘Nuff said in the headline. Enjoy:
One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans (Video)
Thanks to Joel Johnson for his story on Gizmodo:
At the heart of the controversy over “body scanners” is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.
A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens.
We understand that it will be controversial to release these photographs. But identifying features have been eliminated. And fortunately for those who walked through the scanner in Florida last year, this mismanaged machine used the less embarrassing imaging technique.
What’s That Itch?!? Go Ahead And Pee On Your Phone to See If You Have an STD
Welcome to our brave new world. (I’d like some soma, please if I ever have to do this…) Denis Campbell writes in the Guardian:
Mobile phones and computers will soon be able to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases under innovative plans to cut the UK’s rising rate of herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhoea among young people.
Doctors and technology experts are developing small devices, similar to pregnancy testing kits, that will tell someone quickly and privately if they have caught an infection through sexual contact.
People who suspect they have been infected will be able to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted infection (STI) they have. Seven funders, including the Medical Research Council, have put £4m into developing the technology via a forum called the…
Google Building Its Own City For Employees
Google is planning to build what amounts to its own town on a federal space base to house its employees and their families. When society inevitably collapses, Googleville will be the sole safe haven, but only those with company IDs will be allowed in. Writes Gawker:
The company will build out the equivalent of more than two TransAmerica Pyramids on the site of a federal space base in Silicon Valley. Though Google’s plans at NASA Ames/Moffett Field have long been simmering, a Freedom of Information Act Request from the San Jose Mercury News shined new light on the company’s plans.
Google is now revealed to be planning up to 180,000 square feet of housing at Ames, or 15 percent of the usable space on the 42 acre development.
And the company is pressing for still more housing in the adjoining city of Mountain View, where its headquarters sprawls across 65 buildings. Google is…
Obama Administration Claims Unchecked Authority to Kill Americans Outside Combat Zones
A joint statement by the ACLU and CCR, published recently on CommonDreams.org:
The Obama administration today argued before a federal court that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat. Government lawyers made that claim in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) charging that the administration’s asserted targeted killing authority violates the Constitution and international law. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments from both sides today.
“Not only does the administration claim to have sweeping power to target and kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world, but it makes the extraordinary claim that the court has no role in reviewing that power or the legal standards that apply,” said CCR Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei, who presented arguments in the case. “The Supreme Court has…
Headless Deer Turning Up in Northeastern Wisconsin
Image courtesy of Kraftomatic
Bizarre and mysterious, with no adequate explanation. Below appears the entirety of the longest article I could find on the matter, from the webpage of Wausau’s local television station, WSAW 7:
OCONTO, Wis. (AP) — Conservation wardens say an increasing number of headless bucks have been found in northeastern Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources warden Mike Stahl says investigators don’t know why at least a half dozen bucks have been found without their heads since the last week of October. The DNR say four were found in Oconto County’s Little Suamico-Abrams area. One was found in the Town of Spruce and another in Marinette County. Stahl tells WLUK-TV that because of various stages of decay, it’s not known how all bucks were killed, however the DNR has been able to determine at least two were shot.
My current theories are:
1. An alien advance scouting team took the heads for…
How To Israel-ify America’s Airport Security
Security screening at North American airports is inconvenient and invasive, yet at times seems as if it’s all for show. How could it be done better? In Israel, they examine behavior rather than shoes or crotches. The Toronto Star enlightens us:
While North America’s airports groan under the weight of another sea-change in security protocols, one word keeps popping out of the mouths of experts: Israelification.
That is, how can we make our airports more like Israel’s, which deal with far greater terror threat with far less inconvenience. Despite facing dozens of potential threats each day, the security set-up at Israel’s largest hub, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, has not been breached since 2002. How do they manage that?
The first layer of actual security that greets travellers at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport is a roadside check. All drivers are stopped and asked two questions: How are you? Where are you coming…
Ex-Clinton Strategist: Obama Needs ‘Similar’ Oklahoma City Bombing Event to ‘Reconnect’ With Voters
Stephen C. Webster writes on RAW Story:
Talk about a bad analogy: Appearing on television recently, former Hillary Clinton campaign adviser and current public relations executive Mark Penn suggested that President Obama needs a moment “similar” to the tragic terrorist attack on the Oklahoma City federal building, in order to “reconnect” with voters.
He didn’t even seem to flinch in making the comment.
Penn is currently president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller, a multi-national public relations firm. He also served in 2008 as chief strategist for then-Senator Hillary Clinton’s run for the White House. Before that, Penn advised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his third run for the UK leadership post, and served clients such as AT&T, Texaco, Ford, Merck, Verizon, BP, McDonald’s and Microsoft.
Arizona Passes Prop 203, Legalizing Medical Marijuana, In Surprise Outcome
A major elderly population means major glaucoma issues, which spells Arizona unexpectedly becoming the 15th state to legalize pot for medical use. Via CNN:
Almost two weeks after polls closed, Arizona voters have approved a medical marijuana law, state officials said Monday.
The close vote — by a margin of 4,341 votes — will be certified by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on November 29, said spokesman Matthew Benson. A ballot count from Maricopa County over the weekend allowed state officials to provide the results, he said.
Arizona becomes the 15th state, along with the District of Columbia, to have passed a medical marijuana law since 1996, said a spokesman with the advocacy group Medical Marijuana Project. The Arizona law will allow patients with “debilitating medical conditions” to use cannabis if they have a recommendation from their physician.
Arizona’s Proposition 203, approved 841,346 to 837,005, will allow about 120 clinics to dispense marijuana…
Is Precognition Real? New Study Shows Some Evidence That the Human Mind Can Perceive the Future
This study from Professor Daryl Bem at Cornell University certainly is interesting, but what’s even more interesting is the scientific establishment doesn’t seem to be bashing his work. Check out it for yourself. Ben Goertzel writes on h+ magazine:
According to today’s conventional scientific wisdom, time flows strictly forward — from the past to the future through the present. We can remember the past, and we can predict the future based on the past (albeit imperfectly) — but we can’t perceive the future.
But if the recent data from the lab of Prof. Daryl Bem at Cornell University is correct, conventional scientific wisdom may need some corrections on this particular point.
In a research paper titled “Feeling the Future,” recently accepted for Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Bem presents some rather compelling empirical evidence that in some cases — and with weak but highly statistically significant accuracy – many human beings can directly…
NYPD To Start Iris Scanning Suspects And Prisoners
Will iris scans replace the fingerprint? With the many ways someone can change their identity, NYPD is taking a step to insure that their prisoners remain the same person from booking to the arraignment. From DNAinfo:
The NYPD implemented a new identification procedure this week – using digital eye scans to prevent prisoners from assuming false identities during arraignment.
The new practice, which identifies prisoners by taking high-resolution pictures of their irises, the colored part of the eye, began on Monday at Manhattan Central Booking and is expected to expand to other boroughs, the NYPD confirmed Tuesday.
The eye scans are performed first during the booking process and again before the arraignment to confirm that it’s the same person, according to police.
While NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told the New York Times that the department did not know how many people had fallen through the cracks by pretending to be different people at their arraignments, there…
13 Chained Themselves To White House Gate In Gay Rights Protest
From Gay rights activists briefly handcuffed themselves to the White House’s north gate on Monday, urging President Barack Obama to repeal a ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.
Thirteen demonstrators organized by the GetEQUAL campaign for gay rights — including nine veterans, a Catholic priest and other advocates &mdash were arrested after shouting they were “proud to serve” and vowing: “We will not disappear.”
“Today, we have sent a loud and clear message to the US Senate and President Obama that we expect them to make good on their promises to end this inhumane law this year, during the lame-duck session of Congress,” GetEQUAL co-founder and director Robin McGehee said in a statement.
She was among those arrested.
The protest came ahead of the Pentagon’s Internal Review into the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, due on December 1.
According to The Washington Post, the long-awaited report, which included a survey of troops,…
Ignorant Sarah Palin Stumbles Into Creating ‘Word Of The Year’
Whatever your feelings about Sarah Palin, you have to admit that she certainly seems to know how to fail upwards. Mock her all you like for using the non-word “refudiate,” but she’s having the last laugh as it now becomes the New Oxford American Dictionary’s ‘Word of the Year.” Nick Bilton reports in his Bits blog for the New York Times:
At the start of the year the word “refudiate” didn’t exist. In mid-July Sarah Palin, Alaska’s former governor, changed that when she used the word in a Twitter message, somehow mashing up “refute” and “repudiate,” while trying to say something like “reject.”
Now refudiate has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, published by the Oxford University Press, beating out a number of other locutions — many technology-related — that have spread through the language and the Web over the past year.
In 2009, the award went…
The Shadow Scholar – The Man Who Writes Students’ Papers Tells His Story
If you ever wondered why America’s great centers of learning churn out this endless parade of half-asses and mouth-breathers, our friend Ed Dante tells us how they make the grade. From the academic journal The Chronicle Review:
The request came in by e-mail around 2 in the afternoon. It was from a previous customer, and she had urgent business. I quote her message here verbatim (if I had to put up with it, so should you): “You did me business ethics propsal for me I need propsal got approved pls can you will write me paper?”
I’ve gotten pretty good at interpreting this kind of correspondence. The client had attached a document from her professor with details about the paper. She needed the first section in a week. Seventy-five pages.
I told her no problem.
It truly was no problem. In the past year, I’ve written roughly 5,000 pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight…
‘Most Dangerous Bill In History Of U.S.’ – Vote Imminent
From Mike Adams at Natural News:
Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called “the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America.” It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public’s right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer’s markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don’t comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.
This text will be replaced by the player“It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice…
