Houston Bus Driver Runs Red Light Into Train, Asks Right Afterward: “Was That Light Green?”
KTRK-TV Houston reports that future Darwin Award nominee, bus driver Debra Harrison, not only ran a red light right into a train … but right afterward said to the bus passengers, “was that light green?”
Nineteen people were hurt, and Harrison has been involved in five accidents in the last three years according to KTRK-TV Houston. Below is the raw footage of the “accident” below from the AP:
Wal-Mart Fires Associate Of Year, Cancer Patient, For Medical Marijuana Use
Steve Elliott writes on Toke of the Town:
Despite medical marijuana being legal in Michigan, WalMart has fired a cancer patient and former employee of the year who tested positive for the drug, which was recommended by his doctor.
“I was terminated because I failed a drug screening,” ex-WalMart employee Joseph Casias told WZZM-13.
In 2008, Casias was Associate of the Year at the WalMart store in Battle Creek, Mich., despite suffering from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. At his doctor’s recommendation, Casias legally uses medical marijuana to ease his pain.
“It helps tremendously,” Casias said. “I only use it to stop the pain. To make me feel more comfortable and active as a person.”
Casias said he went to work every day during his five years at WalMart. “I gave them everything,”…
Florida Woman Arrested for Shaving Private Parts While Driving
CBS4 reports:
CUDJOE KEY ― You’ve heard of the dangers of texting while driving, and talking on the phone while behind the wheel of a car. But how many people actually debate the merits of doing a little, well, “landscaping” while on the road?
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a two-car crash on Cudjoe Key was caused by a 37-year-old woman who was shaving her bikini area while in the driver’s seat. Her ex-husband was steering from the passenger seat.
Trooper Gary Dunick explained, “She said she was meeting her boyfriend in Key West and wanted to be ready for the visit.”
Megan Mariah Barnes and her ex-husband Charles Judy were driving southbound Tuesday morning when they slammed into the back of a pick-up driven by David Schoff of Palm Bay after he slowed to…
How Not To Get 35 Years For Pot Possession
Craig Malisow writes on Houston Press:
Smith County (East Texas) judges and juries have long had a reputation of meting out severe, some might say ridiculous, punishment for drug convictions. And Henry Wooten’s case is no exception: the 54-year-old Tyler man was sentenced to 35 years in prison for possessing slightly more than four ounces of pot. Wooten actually got off easy — the prosecutor asked the jury to give him 99 years. (We just hope TDCJ can free up room for this menace to society; maybe the state can release a child molester or serial arsonist to find a cell for Wooten.)
While the sentence may be asinine, we can’t help but feel Wooten brought much of this upon himself — mostly by choosing to be both a pothead and live…
Woman’s Growth of a 6 centimeter Horn on Forehead Baffles Village
MSN reports:
A woman has alarmed her small village in China after growing a 6cm horn on her forehead in less than a year.
Zhang Ruifang, 101, says she is also concerned about the appearance of a second mark on the other side of her forehead.
“We didn’t pay too much attention to it [at first] … but as time went on a horn grew out of her head,” said Mrs Zhang’s son Zhang Guozheng.
Naked Snow-Woman in New Jersey Forced to Cover Up After Police Visit
What the heck, is John Ashcroft still attorney general? Via USA Today:
The object of this desirable item has melted away, but the news itself is still hot and provocative.
After Rahway, N.J., police received an anonymous complaint about “a naked snow woman,” the artistic family behind a front-yard tribute to Venus de Milo says an officer paid a visit and told them to cover up their Greek goddess of love and beauty.
The story attracted local attention this week and then popped up on the international radar.
“We had a visit from the local police who told us that a neighbor had complained about the statue and we needed to cover it up or knock it down,” Elisa Gonzalez, who sculpted Venus with her daughter and son, told Agence France-Presse. “We didn’t want to have…
Australian Town Hit by Raining Fish
Now this is biblical, but it does happen from time to time. Check out the video below from the BBC documentary series Supernatural which explains the phenomenon. Simon Crisp writes on Asylum:
For residents of a small Australian town, their usually mundane conversations about the weather have just become a whole lot more interesting.
That’s because in the outback town of Lajamanu it’s started raining fish. Yes, fish. Hundreds of them, falling from the sky. Over the past two days the town’s 660 residents have been bombarded with small white fish which have been falling like rain.
Locals say the fish, mostly spangled perch, have even been alive as they hit the floor. Lucky it wasn’t crocodiles then. Meteorologists believe the fish where sucked up by a tornado — which passed over a river some 300 miles away — before being carried through the sky at 40,000 to 50,000 feet.
Have You Ever Been Billed $1,000 For a Toothbrush in a Hospital?
From CNN, a medical billing advocate shows Elizabeth Cohen some of the wasteful charges she’s seen in bills:
Chilean Quake Likely Shifted Earth’s Axis, NASA Scientist Says
Alex Morales writes on Bloomberg:
The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.
Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet. This affects the Earth’s rotation, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects.
“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).”
The changes can be modeled, though…
Baby ‘Starved to Death’ Because He Did Not Say Amen
On the AP via the Sydney Morning Herald:
(Left) Ria Ramkissoon and her son Javon Thompson, (top right) Queen Antoinette and (bottom right) Trevia Williams.
For more than a week, Ria Ramkissoon watched passively as her one-year-old son wasted away, denied food and water because the older woman she lived with said it was God’s will. Javon Thompson was possessed by an evil spirit, Ramkissoon was told, because he didn’t say “Amen” during a mealtime prayer. Javon didn’t talk much, given his age, but he had said “Amen” before, Ramkissoon testified in a US court in Baltimore.
On the day Javon died, Ramkissoon was told to “nurture him back to life”. She mashed up some carrots and tried to feed the boy, but he was no longer able to swallow. Ramkissoon put her…
Woman Says Her Love Handles Saved Her Life
Via AP via Yahoo News:
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — A Florida woman said her love handles saved her life when she was shot entering an Atlantic City bar. Samantha Lynn Frazier said she heard two pops when she walked into Herman’s Place early Saturday. The 35-year-old then felt pain and saw blood on her hand after she grabbed her left side. Atlantic City police said Frazier was an innocent bystander.
Detective Lt. Charles Love said the gunman was aiming for a man who escaped with a bullet hole in his down jacket. The suspect remains at large.
Frazier told The Press of Atlantic City that ‘I could have been dead. They said my love handles saved my life.” Frazier also told the newspaper that she had been “hollering” that she wanted to lose weight.…
Joe Stack Plane Crash: Why Did He Hate the IRS Enough to Kill?
We certainly received, and continue to receive, a range of opinion on the final act of Andrew Joseph Stack III. Since that day, many news outlets have attributed a 1986 tax law change as the source of his anger expressed in the Stack “manifesto” many of you have been commenting on.
As it currently stands, 1 person was killed and 12 injured by his actions in Austin that day.
Carlin DeGuerin Miller writes on CBS News:
Joseph Andrew Stack’s seething hatred for the IRS appeared to have roots at least two decades long, judging from the web post he left behind before crashing his plane into in an Austin, Texas office building Thursday where some 200 employees of the tax agency worked.
The anti “tax man” fuse may have been lit in Stack in 1986, when the software…
Italian TV Chef Recommends ‘Cat Stew’
John Hooper writes in the Guardian:
Among other things, Giuseppe “Beppe” Bigazzi is known for his prize-winning cookbook La cucina semplice dei sapori d’Italia (”The simple cuisine of the flavours of Italy”). But as of this week, the flavour with which the TV gastronome is likely to be most closely associated is that of stewed cat.
Bigazzi is familiar to millions of viewers of the publicly-owned RAI network as the white-haired co-presenter of a popular pre-lunchtime programme, La prova del cuoco (”The proof of the cook”). But today he was experiencing his first day without television commitments in 10 years after being axed for expressing his enthusiasm for the flesh of felines.
His remarks came after mentioning how, in the desperate conditions of post-war Italy, some people had taken to boiling stray mogs.
Natural Harvest: A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes
Fotie Photenhauer, author of Natural Harvest, describes this book as:
Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food.
This book hopes to change that.
Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients — you will love this cook book!
The Manifesto Of Austin, Texas Crash Pilot Andrew Joseph Stack III
UPDATE: When I initially posted this story, the pilot’s name was reported as “Joseph Andrew Stack.” I have updated his name in light of current consensus reporting.
Various new outlets are reporting that a plane intentionally crashed into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. While the details are still being uncovered, it appears that the man who owned the plane, Andrew Joseph Stack III, left an online manifesto detailing his decision.
It’s also claimed that Stack set his house on fire before crashing his plane.
Here is the reported manifesto of Joe Stack below. Draw your own conclusions.
If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
Pregnant Woman Kicked Off Airplane For Asking For Water
There’s no justice for famous chubby directors, or it seems now, the thirsty on airplanes. Huffington Post reports:
It’s not just famous directors who are getting kicked off planes for bizarre reasons.
A New York doctor claims that he was booted from a Spirit Airlines flight for asking for water for his pregnant wife on Sunday.
Mitchell Roslin, the Chief of Obesity Surgery at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, says that after being grounded at LaGuardia Airport for two hours in a hot plane his attempts to get water for his 7-month pregnant wife were repeatedly refused.
Roslin informed the New York Post that flight attendants told him that it was “against corporate policy” to give him water before the plane was in the air.
Meet the The Lost Lizard People of Los Angeles
Xeni Jardin writes on BoingBoing:
Snip from 1934 Los Angeles Times article about lizard people who lived in tunnels under the city 5,000 years ago.
This legend is a long-lived chestnut.
A hi-rez scan, more at Strange Maps, and: Reptoids!
The Flickr uploader, vokoban, has lots of great stuff.
Virginia Delegates Pass Bill That Bans Chip Implants as ‘Mark of the Beast’
Daniel Tencer reports in the always interesting RAW Story:
Concerns over privacy have aligned with apocalyptic Biblical prophecy in a proposed Virginia law that limits the use of microchip implants on humans because of a lawmaker’s concern that the chips will prove to be the Antichrist’s “mark of the beast.”
On Wednesday, Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill that forbids companies from forcing their employees to be implanted with tracking devices, a move likely to be applauded by civil libertarians. But Virginia state Delegate Mark Cole’s reasons for proposing the law have as much to do with the Book of Revelation as they do with concerns over privacy in the digital age.
Cole says he is concerned that the implants will turn out to be the “mark of the beast” worn by Satan’s…
Karaoke Murders In The Philippines
The New York Times reports on the mysterious link between karaoke and murderous violence in the Philippines. A Frank Sinatra song is singled out as especially dangerous:
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
Killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
