MAN SHOT IN HEAD DOESN'T NOTICE UNTIL 5 YEARS LATER

A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened. Police in the western city of Bochum said on Tuesday doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.

Presented with the 5.6mm projectile, the man recalled he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year's party "in 2004 or 2005," but had forgotten about it because he had been "very drunk," a police spokesman said...

Police said they were not treating the incident as suspicious as the bullet might have got lodged in the man's head when a reveler fired a gun in celebration.

Read the full article via Reuters (published August 24, 2010)

Our two cents: The gauntlet for drunkenness has been laid down with vigor.

-

BABIES WITH BREASTS SHOCK CHINA

Once again, China's most vulnerable citizens - its babies - are the central figures in a food-safety scandal. Two years ago, milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine killed six infants and left 300,000 more suffering from kidney stones. Now, some Chinese babies are growing breasts, and their parents are blaming the Nasdaq-listed company that produces the baby formula they were drinking.

But tests conducted by the besieged Ministry of Health have exonerated Synutra International, based in the northern coastal city of Qingdao. No abnormalities were found in samples of Synutra's milk powder or any other formula that was tested, the ministry announced on Sunday. Laboratory tests of 42 Synutra samples found no trace of added hormones that could have led to the premature development of four infant girls. But this may in fact increase the parents' anxiety: if this was not caused by tainted milk then by what?

Read the full article via The Asia Times (published August 17, 2010)

Our two cents: Please, don't try to visualize a baby with breasts, it'll just make ya feel weird.

-

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS EBONICS EXPERTS - DEA TO HIRE NINE “BLACK ENGLISH” LINGUISTS

The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records.

A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”...

In contract documents, which are excerpted here, Ebonics is listed among 114 languages for which prospective contractors must be able to provide linguists. The 114 languages are divided between “common languages” and “exotic languages.” Ebonics is listed as a “common language” spoken solely in the United States.

Read the full article via The Smoking Gun (published August 23, 2010)

Our two cents: I had no idea Ebonics or "Black English" were terms (white) people still used.

-

13 YEAR OLD BOY HIT BY LIGHTNING AT 13:13 ON FRIDAY THE 13th

A 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning — at 13:13 hours on Friday the 13th, according to reports.

The teen was watching an air show at Lowestoft, England, when he was struck and was later treated for burns to his shoulder, the U.K.'s Mirror newspaper said. He is expected to fully recover.

Rex Clarke, leader of the St. John Ambulance team that treated the child, described what happened.

"Suddenly there was this huge crack of lightning really close to the seafront and really loud thunder," he told the Mirror. "Seconds later we got a call someone had been hit. The boy was breathing and was conscious."

"He had a minor burn to his shoulder and was taken to hospital as a precaution. It could have been a lot worse," he said, adding: "It's all a bit strange that he was 13, and it happened at 13:13 on Friday the 13th.

Read the full article via MSNBC (published August 15, 2010)

Our two cents: If you're gonna get hit by lightning, might as well do it with style.

-

THE PACIFIC GARBAGE ISLAND HAS A NORTH ATLANTIC COUNTERPART AND NOW IT'S BEEN MAPPED

Millions of pieces of plastic — most smaller than half an inch — float throughout the oceans. They are invisible to satellites, and except on very calm days you won’t even see them from the deck of a sailboat. The only way to know how much junk is out there is to tow a fine net through the water.

Scientists have gathered data from 22 years of surface net tows to map the North Atlantic garbage patch and its change over time, creating the most accurate picture yet of any pelagic plastic patch on earth.

The data were gathered by thousands of undergraduates aboard the Sea Education Association (SEA) sailing semester, who hand-picked, counted and measured more than 64,000 pieces of plastic from 6,000 net tows between 1986 to 2008.

“The highest concentrations that we observe in the North Atlantic garbage patch are comparable to that of the North Pacific, but we don’t have enough data about the size of the North Pacific one to say whether they are comparable in size,” said oceanographer Kara Law of SEA, lead author of the study published August 19 in Science...

The highest concentrations of plastic were found roughly from the latitude of Virginia to the latitude of Cuba. While they were able to clearly define the north and south boundaries of the patch, the cruise tracks didn’t venture far enough east to find the eastern boundary. They estimate the average concentration of plastic in this area is about 4,000 pieces per square mile, though it is as high as 250,000 pieces per square mile in some places.

Read the full article with photos and graphs via Wired (published August 19th, 2010)

Our two cents: U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. ...

-

3 COLOMBIAN TEENS ON FACEBOOK HIT LIST KILLED IN PAST 10 DAYS

Three teens who were on a 69-name hit list posted on Facebook have been killed in the past 10 days in a southwestern Colombian town, officials say.

Police say they do not know who posted the list or why the names are on it.

"It is still not clear," Colombian national police spokesman Wilson Baquero told CNN. "This is part of the investigation."

But officials note that a criminal gang known as Los Rastrojos and a Marxist guerrilla group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia operate in the area.

The hit list on Facebook, which was posted August 17, gave the people named three days to leave the town of Puerto Asis or be executed, said Volmar Perez Ortiz, a federal official whose title is defender of the public.

Police at first thought the posting was a joke, Perez said in a statement issued Saturday. But the publication of a second list with 31 additional names led authorities to convene a special security meeting Friday, Perez said.

Read the full article via CNN (published August 24, 2010)

Our two cents: I thought Facebook tattled on people all the time for much lesser crimes, so what gives?

-

Bonus: TWILIGHT WEREWOLF TAYLOR LAUNTER EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED OVER RV TRAILER

Bonus: BEDBUG INFESTATIONS ON THE RISE IN THE U.S. NEW YORK TOPS THE LIST

Bonus: TRAFFIC JAM IN CHINA REACHES 11 DAYS AS OF AUGUST 25, 2010

" />WTF News Roundup: August 25, 2010 | The Rathaus

Home » News » Currently Reading:

WTF News Roundup: August 25, 2010

August 25, 2010 News

MAN SHOT IN HEAD DOESN’T NOTICE UNTIL 5 YEARS LATER

A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened. Police in the western city of Bochum said on Tuesday doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.

Presented with the 5.6mm projectile, the man recalled he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year’s party “in 2004 or 2005,” but had forgotten about it because he had been “very drunk,” a police spokesman said…

Police said they were not treating the incident as suspicious as the bullet might have got lodged in the man’s head when a reveler fired a gun in celebration.

Read the full article via Reuters (published August 24, 2010)

Our two cents: The gauntlet for drunkenness has been laid down with vigor.

-

BABIES WITH BREASTS SHOCK CHINA

Once again, China’s most vulnerable citizens – its babies – are the central figures in a food-safety scandal. Two years ago, milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine killed six infants and left 300,000 more suffering from kidney stones. Now, some Chinese babies are growing breasts, and their parents are blaming the Nasdaq-listed company that produces the baby  formula they were drinking.

But tests conducted by the besieged Ministry of Health have exonerated Synutra International, based in the northern coastal city of Qingdao. No abnormalities were found in samples of Synutra’s milk powder or any other formula that was tested, the ministry announced on Sunday. Laboratory tests of 42 Synutra samples found no trace of added hormones that could have led to the premature development of four infant girls. But this may in fact increase the parents’ anxiety: if this was not caused by tainted milk then by what?

Read the full article via The Asia Times (published August 17, 2010)

Our two cents: Please, don’t try to visualize a baby with breasts, it’ll just make ya feel weird.

-

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS EBONICS EXPERTS – DEA TO HIRE NINE “BLACK ENGLISH” LINGUISTS

The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records.

A maximum of nine Ebonics experts will work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division, where the linguists, after obtaining a “DEA Sensitive” security clearance, will help investigators decipher the results of “telephonic monitoring of court ordered nonconsensual intercepts, consensual listening devices, and other media”…

In contract documents, which are excerpted here, Ebonics is listed among 114 languages for which prospective contractors must be able to provide linguists. The 114 languages are divided between “common languages” and “exotic languages.” Ebonics is listed as a “common language” spoken solely in the United States.

Read the full article via The Smoking Gun (published August 23, 2010)

Our two cents: I had no idea Ebonics or “Black English” were terms (white) people still used.

-

13 YEAR OLD BOY HIT BY LIGHTNING AT 13:13 ON FRIDAY THE 13th

A 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning — at 13:13 hours on Friday the 13th, according to reports.

The teen was watching an air show at Lowestoft, England, when he was struck and was later treated for burns to his shoulder, the U.K.’s Mirror newspaper said. He is expected to fully recover.

Rex Clarke, leader of the St. John Ambulance team that treated the child, described what happened.

“Suddenly there was this huge crack of lightning really close to the seafront and really loud thunder,” he told the Mirror. “Seconds later we got a call someone had been hit. The boy was breathing and was conscious.”

“He had a minor burn to his shoulder and was taken to hospital as a precaution. It could have been a lot worse,” he said, adding: “It’s all a bit strange that he was 13, and it happened at 13:13 on Friday the 13th.

Read the full article via MSNBC (published August 15, 2010)

Our two cents: If you’re gonna get hit by lightning, might as well do it with style.

-

THE PACIFIC GARBAGE ISLAND HAS A NORTH ATLANTIC COUNTERPART AND NOW IT’S BEEN MAPPED

Millions of pieces of plastic — most smaller than half an inch — float throughout the oceans. They are invisible to satellites, and except on very calm days you won’t even see them from the deck of a sailboat. The only way to know how much junk is out there is to tow a fine net through the water.

Scientists have gathered data from 22 years of surface net tows to map the North Atlantic garbage patch and its change over time, creating the most accurate picture yet of any pelagic plastic patch on earth.

The data were gathered by thousands of undergraduates aboard the Sea Education Association (SEA) sailing semester, who hand-picked, counted and measured more than 64,000 pieces of plastic from 6,000 net tows between 1986 to 2008.

“The highest concentrations that we observe in the North Atlantic garbage patch  are comparable to that of the North Pacific, but we don’t have enough data about the size of the North Pacific one to say whether they are comparable in size,” said oceanographer Kara Law of SEA, lead author of the study published August 19 in Science…

The highest concentrations of plastic were found roughly from the latitude of Virginia to the latitude of Cuba. While they were able to clearly define the north and south boundaries of the patch, the cruise tracks didn’t venture far enough east to find the eastern boundary. They estimate the average concentration of plastic in this area is about 4,000 pieces per square mile, though it is as high as 250,000 pieces per square mile in some places.

Read the full article with photos and graphs via Wired (published August 19th, 2010)

Our two cents: U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. …

-

3 COLOMBIAN TEENS ON FACEBOOK HIT LIST KILLED IN PAST 10 DAYS

Three teens who were on a 69-name hit list posted on Facebook have been killed in the past 10 days in a southwestern Colombian town, officials say.

Police say they do not know who posted the list or why the names are on it.

“It is still not clear,” Colombian national police spokesman Wilson Baquero told CNN. “This is part of the investigation.”

But officials note that a criminal gang known as Los Rastrojos and a Marxist guerrilla group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia operate in the area.

The hit list on Facebook, which was posted August 17, gave the people named three days to leave the town of Puerto Asis or be executed, said Volmar Perez Ortiz, a federal official whose title is defender of the public.

Police at first thought the posting was a joke, Perez said in a statement issued Saturday. But the publication of a second list with 31 additional names led authorities to convene a special security meeting Friday, Perez said.

Read the full article via CNN (published August 24, 2010)

Our two cents: I thought Facebook tattled on people all the time for much lesser crimes, so what gives?

-

Bonus: TWILIGHT WEREWOLF TAYLOR LAUNTER EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSED OVER RV TRAILER

Bonus: BEDBUG INFESTATIONS ON THE RISE IN THE U.S. NEW YORK TOPS THE LIST

Bonus: TRAFFIC JAM IN CHINA REACHES 11 DAYS AS OF AUGUST 25, 2010

Share
Tags: , ,
No Comments

Search This Site:

Upcoming Events

Feb 2012
«Jan Mar»
SMTWTFS
 
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
 

Comment on this Article:







Related Articles:

Watch: The Murder of Fred Hampton (documentary)

July 18, 2011

The Murder of Fred Hampton began as a film portrait of Hampton and his leadership of the Illinois Black Panther Party, but half way through filming, Hampton was killed by Chicago police. In an infamous moment in Chicago history and politics, over a dozen armed officers from Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with the ...Read More

Watch: “Darwin’s Nightmare” (documentary)

July 12, 2011

Some time in the 1960′s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around ...Read More

Read: “Wikileaks Haiti, Let Them Live on $3 a Day”

July 1, 2011

Wikileaks recently unveiled some damning cables about the US government’s involvement in Haiti’s economy via The Nation and Haïti Liberté. To sum up:  Haiti planned to raise its minimum wage from 24 cents per hour to 62 cents, angering the contractors for U.S. corporations such as Levis and Hanes, who pay these ridiculously low wages to Haitians ...Read More

Street Art: Bulgarian Monument to the Soviet Army Turns Red, White and Blue

June 22, 2011

click to enlarge/photo by soho42 Last weekend, the citizens of Sofia, Bulgaria awoke to find a public monument to Red Army defaced by an unknown interventionist. The statues of Soviet soldiers who “liberated” Bulgaria from the Nazis in 1944 were painted as Superman, Joker, Ronald McDonald, Santa Claus, Captain America and other pop culture icons of capitalist Americana. ...Read More

Watch: “Karakuri” – A Mini Doc About Traditional Japanese Self-Operating Machines

June 17, 2011

According to the filmmaker Matthew Allard: Japan has always been on the forefront of cutting edge robotics. Its roots can be traced back 200-300 years ago during the Edo period when skilled craftsmen created automata (self-operating machines). Using nothing more than pulleys and weights they were able to make the Karakuri (Japanese automata) perform amazing ...Read More

Art

Artist Shout Out: Walter Inglis Anderson

Artist Shout Out: Walter Inglis Anderson

By B. Carter

Walter Inglis Anderson was an American painter, writer, naturalist and bicycle enthusiast. Artist Bio: Walter Inglis Anderson was born in 1903 in New Orleans to George Walter Anderson, a grain merchant, and Annette McConnell Anderson, an artist. His mother’s love of art, music, and literature strongly influenced Walter (called “Bob” by his friends and family) ...Read More

Category:

Music

New Music Review: Widowspeak “Widowspeak”

New Music Review: Widowspeak “Widowspeak”

By Tricia Rock

With a Cat Power alto and Mazzy Star whisper, Widowspeak‘s self-titled debut LP embodies the essence of the 90′s. But with band members born just at the cusp of the decade,  singer/songwriter Molly Hamilton, drummer Michael Stasiak and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas offer not a retelling of the 90′s but a new generation’s interpretation of ...Read More

Category:

Fashion

Runway Style: Thomas Tait Fall 2011

Runway Style: Thomas Tait Fall 2011

By Tricia Rock

Canadian-born designer Thomas Tait began his career as the youngest graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins, completing the program at just 21. His graduate collection was then chosen as a feature in the CSM fashion week show for the Fall 2010 season, after which he went on to receive the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize on ...Read More

Category:

Photography

Photo File: Saga

Photo File: Saga

By Tricia Rock

From the photographer: “I am Saga. I am from Iceland but currently live, study and work in London.” See more of Saga’s work on: Flickr The Neverending Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...Read More

Category: ,

Film

Style Watch: Harmony Korine for Proenza Schouler “Act Da Fool”

Style Watch: Harmony Korine for Proenza Schouler “Act Da Fool”

By Tricia Rock

To showcase their Fall 2010 line, Proenza Schouler teamed up with legendary cult filmmaker Harmony Korine to create Act Da Fool. With the influx of short fashion films in early 2010, designers now seem to be stepping it up a notch in the video department – and in my opinion Act Da Fool takes the ...Read More

Category: ,

TV

Style Trends: Beverly Hills 90210

Style Trends: Beverly Hills 90210

By Tricia Rock

With the DVD release of its first six seasons and an updated CW remake, Beverly Hills 90210 has yet again become a source of entertainment and fashion inspiration for girls (and grownup girls) everywhere. References to the show in the fashion world began popping up in late 2006, around the time of the 90210 Season ...Read More

Category: ,

Web

Photo Flash: The Camel Thorn Trees of Namibia, Africa

Photo Flash: The Camel Thorn Trees of Namibia, Africa

By B. Carter

photograph by Frans Lanting, National Geographic Tinted orange by the morning sun, a soaring dune is the backdrop for the hulks of camel thorn trees in Namib-Naukluft Park. In 1990 newly independent Namibia became one of the world’s first nations to write environmental protection into its constitution. Read more about Namibia’s unqiue efforts at land stewardship here. ...Read More

Category: ,

News

Infographic: Sitting is Killing You

Infographic: Sitting is Killing You

By B. Carter

See the entire infographic here Read an article about a Canadian sitting study here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...Read More

Category: , ,

Funny

Funny Video: Charlotte Young’s Artist Statement

Funny Video: Charlotte Young’s Artist Statement

By Harold Johns III

Any artist will tell you, the worst thing about being an artist besides being poor is writing a bullshit artist statement. Don’t worry though, Charlotte Young is actually a comedian and not a depressed artist so don’t feel guilty for laughing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...Read More

Category: , ,