Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Millions of Spiders in Pakistan Encase Entire Trees in Webs


By Duncan Geere, Wired UK

The unprecedented flooding in Pakistan in the latter half of 2010 disrupted the lives of 20 million people, but it also affected the country's arachnid population.

With more than a fifth of the country submerged, millions of spiders climbed into trees to escape the rising floodwaters. The water took so long to recede, the trees became covered in a cocoon of spiderwebs. The result is an eerie, alien panorama, with any vegetation covered in a thick mass of webbing. (You can see images from the region in the gallery linked below.)

However, the unusual phenomenon may be a blessing in disguise. Britain's department for international development reports that areas where the spiders have scaled the trees have seen far fewer malaria-spreading mosquitos than might be expected, given the prevalence of stagnant, standing water.

The agency is providing aid to the communities affected by the disaster, including safe drinking water, health care, food and shelter. To reduce the population's long-term dependence on that aid, the government agency is now offering wheat seeds and tools to farmers, and jobs and skills training for those in rural areas. However, reconstruction in the worst-hit areas is expected to take many years.

See more images with the original story on Wired UK.

Image: U.K. Department for International Development

See Also:


Sent from James' iPhone

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Lee Price's paintings of herself with junk food


 Images Painting12
 Images Painting03 Lee Price creates photorealistic oil paintings that are mostly self-portraits of herself, binging on junk food. In the new print issue of Bust magazine, Price talks about how her work explores body image, feminism, and our cultural relationship to food. You can see more of Price's work at her own site or at Santa Fe's EVOKE Contemporary Gallery where she is showing in May.

Lee Price: American Figurative Realist Oil Painter

Lee Price at EVOKE Contemporary Gallery


Sent from James' iPhone

Major Newspaper Help Wanted Ad for a Gonzo Journalist


This amazing job-posting from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune advertises for a journalist who's willing to make trouble, go crazy, chase the story, and fight the good fight -- in Florida!
We do a mix of quick hit investigative work when events call for it and mini-projects that might run for a few days. But every year we like to put together a project way too ambitious for a paper our size because we dream that one day Walt Bogdanich will have to say: "I can't believe the Sarasota Whatever-Tribune cost me my 20th Pulitzer." As many of you already know, those kinds of projects can be hellish, soul-sucking, doubt-inducing affairs. But if you're the type of sicko who likes holing up in a tiny, closed office with reporters of questionable hygiene to build databases from scratch by hand-entering thousands of pages of documents to take on powerful people and institutions that wish you were dead, all for the glorious reward of having readers pick up the paper and glance at your potential prize-winning epic as they flip their way to the Jumble... well, if that sounds like journalism Heaven, then you're our kind of sicko.

For those unaware of Florida's reputation, it's arguably the best news state in the country and not just because of the great public records laws. We have all kinds of corruption, violence and scumbaggery. The 9/11 terrorists trained here. Bush read My Pet Goat here. Our elections are colossal clusterfucks. Our new governor once ran a health care company that got hit with a record fine because of rampant Medicare fraud. We have hurricanes, wildfires, tar balls, bedbugs, diseased citrus trees and an entire town overrun by giant roaches (only one of those things is made up). And we have Disney World and beaches, so bring the whole family.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune (via Making Light) Sent from James' iPhone

'Ashes and Snow' Elephant photo by Gregory Colbert


 -Qhujtxvmxdm Tw6Obzam Di Aaaaaaaapoy 5Jiu5-Uxwbw S1600 Blind+Men+And+The+Elephant+Parable
I just saw this magnificent photograph hanging at Sausalito's Cavallo Point Lodge. It's a piece from Canadian artist Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow collection of photographs, films, and novel consisting of a fictional character's 365 letters to his wife written during a year-long journey. The photographs, including the one that mesmerized me, are approximately 11.5 x 8.25 feet and printed on handmade Japanese paper using an encaustic process. Ashes and Snow traveled around the world in the mid-2000s for display in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure assembled (and often redesigned) at each port that hosts it. According to Wikipedia, Ashes and Snow was "the most attended exhibition by a living artist in history," counting more than 10 million people who experienced it. I wish I would have been one of them! "Ashes and Snow"

Sent from James' iPhone

Monday, March 21, 2011

Silkworms Fed Fluorescent Dyes Produce Brightly-Colored Silk


The color is reportedly permanent. Published as Intrinsically Colored and Luminescent Silk by Dr. Natalia Tansil and co-workers at Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering. [via CRAFT]

Sent from James' iPhone

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Copy-Machine Question Spawns Deposition for the History Books


copymachineIf anyone out there is thinking of going to law school because he or she hopes to be trying cases in the style of Jack McCoy three years down the line, let us show you an example of what real-life litigation is all-too-frequently like.

It comes from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and concerns an exchange between a lawyer in a public-records case in front of the Ohio Supreme Court.

And if you're anything like us, it'll make you want to bang your forehead against your keyboard. Hard.

The case is about "whether deeds and other records at the county recorder's office — records that were collected and are maintained with your taxes — should be readily available at reasonable cost."

Straightforward enough, we suppose. But that's certainly not how we'd describe a colloquy between a plaintiffs' lawyer and a deponent, the acting head of information technology for a Cuyahoga County office.

At issue: whether the office had a copy machine at the time in question.

Plaintiffs' lawyer: During your tenure in the computer department at the Recorder's office, has the Recorder's office had photocopying machines?

Deponent's Lawyer: Objection.

PL: Any photocopying machine?

Deponent: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

PL: Let me be — let me make sure I understand your question. You don't have an understanding of what a photocopying machine is?

D: No. I want to make sure that I answer your question correctly.

. . .

D: When you say "photocopying machine," what do you mean?

PL: Let me be clear. The term "photocopying machine" is so ambiguous that you can't picture in your mind what a photocopying machine is in an office setting?

D: I just want to make sure I answer your question correctly.

PL: Well, we'll find out. If you can say yes or no, I can do follow-ups, but it seems — if you really don't know in an office setting what a photocopying machine is, I'd like the Ohio Supreme Court to hear you say so.

D: I just want to make sure I answer your question correctly.

DL: There's different types of photocopiers, Dave.

Are you yet reaching for your blood-pressure medication? Well, there's more.

DL: I understand that, but I understand what his objection is. You want him to answer the question, but I don't think it's fair.

PL: It's not fair?

DL: It's not a fair question. A photocopy machine can be a machine that uses photostatic technology, that uses xerographic technology, that uses scanning technology.

PL: I don't care what kind of technology it uses. Has your offices — we don't have technocrats on the Ohio Supreme Court.  . . .

Do you have photocopying machines at the Recorder's office? If you don't know what that means in an office setting, please tell the court you don't know what it means in an office setting to have a photocopying machine.

D: I would like to answer your question to the best of my ability.

PL: I'm asking you to answer that.

D: So if you could explain to me what you mean by –

PL: I'm not going to do that because I want you — I want to establish on the record that you really don't know what it is. I want to establish that.

Now, do you know what it is or do you not know what it is? Do you understand what that term means in common parlance or not?

D: Common parlance?

PL: Common language.

D: I'm sorry. I didn't know what that meant. I understand that there are photocopying machines, and there are different types of them just like –

PL: Are there any in the Recorder's office?

D: — there are different cars. Some of them run under gas power, some of them under electric power, and I'm asking if you could help me out by explaining what you mean by "photocopying machines" –

PL: That's a great point.

D: — instead of trying to make me feel stupid.

PL: If you feel stupid, it's not because I'm making you feel that way.

DL: Objection.

Feel like you're in an Abbott & Costello routine? A Mamet play? As the old Ginsu knives guy used to say, but wait, there's more.

DL: Dave, the word "photocopying" is at issue in this case, and you're asking him whether something is or isn't a photocopy machine, which is a legal conclusion –

PL: This isn't a patent case. There's no statute that defines — where I'm asking him to define technology for me. I'm asking — I want to find out from a layperson's perspective, not an engineer's perspective, not a technician's perspective, but from — I have an idea.

DL: How about this: Have you ever heard the term "photocopier" or "photocopy" used in the Recorder's office by anybody?

D: Photocopy? I'm sure in the time I've been there someone has used the term.

PL: And have you ever heard them use it in referencing a particular device or machine within the Recorder's office? By way of example, "can you photocopy that for me?" That's an example of office parlance.

D: That particular terminology I've not witnessed.

PL: What was the context that you've heard the term "photocopy" used in the Recorder's office?

D: I'm sure it's been used. I didn't say I remembered a specific instance.

PL: All right. But you have a general understanding that people have used the term "photocopy" within the Recorder's office in terms of something that could be done there; is that true?

D: I'm sure it's been used. I don't remember a specific instance or how it was used. I'm sure it's been used.

PL: And is it fair to say that it's been used in terms of being able to copy one piece of paper onto another piece of paper using a machine? No? Not sure of that?

D: I'm sure it's been used. I don't recall a specific instance in which it was.

And yes, it goes on from here. According to the Plain-Dealer story, the "what is a copy machine" exchange goes on for 10 pages of the transcript.

Sent from James' iPhone

Things You Shouldn't Put In Your Vagina


Things You Shouldn't Put In Your Vagina
  • 54 bags of heroin
  • 31 empty heroin bags
  • 8 prescription pills
  • $51.22 in cash and change

Twenty-seven-year-old Pennsylannia woman, Karin Mackaliunas, was arrested for suspected burglary and reckless driving. After a routine strip search, authorities discovered all of the items listed above stored in her vagina. Now that's a vagina! Why bother with a purse when you can carry everything you need between your legs? [NY Mag]

Sent from James' iPhone

The debate that killed DC Comics blog comments


 Www.Comicsalliance.Com Media 2011 03 Source02
DC Comics apparently shut down commenting on its blog The Source after things got ugly in a thread about an eternal question: Who runs faster, Superman or The Flash? "DC's Blog Closes Comments, Gives Up On Even Trying To Talk to You Jerks" (Comics Alliance via @mattsinger, thanks Mark!)

Sent from James' iPhone

HOWTO make a shooter's sandwich



From the Guardian, directions for making a shooter's sandwich -- a sandwich made by hollowing out a round loaf, filling it with two steaks and some cooked mushrooms, wrapping and tying it, and then compressing and slicing it. Yum!
Don't bother resting the steaks. Work fast and tuck the first one, dripping and hot, straight into the bottom of the hollow loaf...Dollop in your hot mushroom mixture...Tuck your second steak over the mushrooms. At this stage I usually smear hot horseradish on the top steak and Dijon mustard on the inside of the lid...

Wrap in greaseproof paper and tie with butcher's string like this. Then wrap in two layers of foil and smush flat under a heavy cutting board and as many weights as you can find

Leave under the weights in a reasonably cool place (don't refrigerate) for at least six hours or preferably overnight. Remove the foil and cut through string, paper and sandwich

How to make a shooter's sandwich (via Reddit)

(Image: Tim Hayward/Guardian)

Sent from James' iPhone

Old Sparky: The Shocking History Of The Electric Chair



Are you sitting comfortably? Good… so was Guiseppe Zangara, 78 years ago today, when authorities at the Florida State Penitentiary flipped the switch on "Old Sparky" and sent the prisoner sic transit electric into the great beyond. This look at execution by electrocution focuses on Old Sparky – the electric chair employed exclusively by the United States and its dependencies from 1890 through 2010.

"Push the Button!"

(image via: Gangs Or Us)

On February 15, 1933, Italian immigrant Guiseppe Zangara attempted to assassinate U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt using a .32-caliber pistol. Zangara missed FDR but his wild firing hit 5 others, including Chicago mayor Anton Cermak who died of his wounds on March 6.

(images via: Find A Grave and Why Y Radio)

Tried and convicted of first-degree murder, Zangara (above, left) was sentenced to death in Florida's "Old Sparky" electric chair – a sentence that was carried out a mere two weeks later, on March 20. Angry and defiant to the end, Zangara's final statement before being executed was "Viva Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere! Push the button!"

Spark of Genius?

(images via: Analytical Synthesis, Reformation.org and P.A.P.-Blog)

By the time Zangara was zapped, the Electric Chair had been a proven method of execution in the United States for decades. Its first use was on convicted murder William Kemmler, at New York state's Auburn Prison (below) on August 6, 1890. The first woman to be executed via electrocution was Martha M. Place. Convicted of murdering her step-daughter, Place was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York State exactly 34 years before Zangara: on March 20, 1899.

(images via: Geocaching and DC2NET)

Both of the aforementioned executions occurred in the state of New York. Coincidence? Not at all – the Empire State pioneered the use of execution by electrocution after a committee was set up to determine a more humane method (compared to hanging) of carrying out death sentences. It was also no coincidence that Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, is associated with the development of the electric chair.

(images via: Tesla: The Lost Wizard and Etherealisation)

The Wizard of Menlo Park did not design the original electric chair, but the two men who did (Harold P. Brown and Arthur Kennelly) were both employees of Edison and the latter zealously promoted their work as part of his preference for DC current in the famous War of the Currents with Nikola Tesla & George Westinghouse, and an AC-powered electric chair would seem to suit Edison's purposes perfectly. To that end, a number of experiments to test and refine the apparatus (including electrocuting an elephant) were conducted in 1888 at Edison's laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey. By 1889, the electric chair was deemed both safe (for the operators) and effective, and the state committee approved it for use. Old Sparky wouldn't have to wait too long to entertain its first "guest".

(images via: TruTV, Footnote and A History Of Drinking)

The state committee may have given the electric chair their stamp of approval but witnesses at Kemmler's execution, not so much. The initial 17-second charge merely knocked Kemmler unconscious, prompting attending physician E.C. Spitzka to shout "Have the current turned on again, quick, no delay!" Not only was the current turned on again, the power was amped up to 2,000 volts. Kemmler's body caught fire in what one reporter called "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging". George Westinghouse commented later that "they would have done better using an axe."

Chair and Chair Alike

(images via: Asergeev, Death Penalty In Texas and Canadian Content)

Sensationalistic reports notwithstanding, prisons in as many as 26 states (plus D.C.) were quick to adopt the electric chair as their preferred – and in some cases, only – method of execution. In Kentucky the electric chair was first used in 1911; in Texas it first came on line in 1924. Georgia's electric chair was installed at Reidsville State Prison in 1924 and the original, white-painted chair was in use through 1980.

(images via: Georgia Info, American World Pictures and The Mix)

Georgia may have replaced their white electric chair with a clear-varnished model but the switchover didn't disrupt the state's execution agenda: a total of 441 prisoners rode the lightning between 1924 and 1998 including Lena Baker, the first Georgia woman to be sent to the electric chair. Lethal injection was instituted as the primary method of execution in October of 2001 but Georgia's Old Sparky waits in the wings – literally: the chair is stored in a side closet outside the execution chamber at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center… just in case.

Electric Ladyland

(images via: Last Movie Review On The Left and Executed Today)

Speaking of Lena Baker, sending women to the electric chair wasn't as rare as one might think – nor, at least according to the judges and juries of the day, was it cruel or unusual. We mentioned Martha M. Place, who met her maker exactly 112 years ago on March 20 of 1899. Lynda Lyon Block was the most recent woman to be executed by electrocution, on May 10 of 2002 in Alabama. One especially notorious case was that of Ruth Snyder, convicted of murder and executed on January 12, 1928, in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing prison. At the moment the switch was flipped, a reporter activated a hidden camera strapped to his leg – the photo of the about-to-be-late Mrs. Snyder (shown above, right) was subsequently splashed across the front page of the next day's New York Daily News.

The Original Buzzkill

(images via: Bob Lowry's UPI-Related Images, I Zimbra and Treehugger)

Though most electric chairs were nicknamed Old Sparky, a few carried their own unique colloquial designations. Louisiana's electric chair, which in 1940 replaced hanging as the primary method of execution in the state, was dubbed Gruesome Gertie. Indiana's chair was Old Betsy and Alabama's (above, left) was called Yellow Mama. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Tennessee were partial to Old Smokey (above, right), though those states' death row denizens undoubtedly did not share the feeling.

(image via: The Little Cat Blog)

West Virginia's version of Old Sparky was used at the closed-in-1995 West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville between 1950 and 1959. The chair was activated by three designated executioners who would each press a button simultaneously. As only one of the buttons was connected to the circuit, each of the button-pressers was left with a reasonable doubt that they were the actual executioner.

America Sockets to 'Em

(images via: Gizmodo and BoingBoing)

The electric chair was an American invention and has been an American institution for well over a hundred years. One would think an innovation used for so long would be taken up by other nations, yet that has not been the case. In fact, only the Philippines – formerly an American possession – employed a version of Old Sparky to conduct executions between 1926 and 1976. We're not sure why… hey, the Chair's good enough for Barbie!

(images via: Executed Today, Divisoria and Video48)

The Philippines under dictator Ferdinand Marcos took the concept of Old Sparky and ran with it: one day in May of 1972 (possibly a Fri-day?), a triple electrocution took place. Jaime Jose, Basilio Pineda and Edgardo Aquino were electrocuted side-by-side as punishment for the notorious 1967 kidnapping and gang-rape of popular actress Maggie dela Riva. It would be nice if we could state use of the electric chair was phased out by the Philippines in favor of a more humane alternative, but we can't: post-1976 executions were by firing squad.

"Current" Events

(image via: Chair Blog)

Is it time to finally pull the plug on Old Sparky? Indeed, the electric chair's long reign appears to be slowly and surely flickering to a close. Electrocution is listed as an optional form of execution in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia as of 2010, and in Arkansas, Illinois, and Oklahoma the electric chair is officially an alternate form of execution, only to be approved for use "if other forms of execution are found unconstitutional in the state at the time of execution."

(images via: Facebook, Baltimore City Paper and Patricia Cornwell)

The most recent instance of a prisoner executed via electrocution is the case of Paul Warner Powell, who was executed in Virginia on March 18, 2010, after he chose Old Sparky in preference of the alternative: lethal injection.

(images via: Factoidz, Filmous, Fantastic Fiction and Ads Of The World)

Ironically, electrocution is being supplanted by lethal injection for the same reason the electric chair replaced hanging: it is considered to be a more humane method of executing those legally condemned to death. Maybe those comparing Old Sparky and "Old Squirty" were influenced by a long list of grisly botched electrocutions (five since 1993 alone) that included that of Allen Lee "Tiny" Davis in 1999. It's likely Stephen King, author of The Green Mile, was influenced by lurid reports of these execution errors.

(image via: Guardian UK)

Leaked photographs of Davis slumped in the electric chair, his shirt red with blood, incited protests and legal challenges that sought to depict use of the electric chair as cruel and unusual punishment. Considering authorities have had nearly a century to get it right and still haven't succeeded, the depiction may have merit. Maybe it's time for a switch… wait, not that switch!!


Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Oh Sit! The World's 13 Most Uncomfortable Chair Designs

These 13 uncomfortable chairs show that even the best furniture designers take (and give) pains to stretch the limits of their art to the breaking point. 6 Comments - Click Here to Read More »»


20 Comfy-to-Crazy Chairs and Chair Designs

Creative modern chairs and chair designs from strange seats and bizarre benches, from the fabulously modern to the flippantly unique and everything in between. 31 Comments - Click Here to Read More »»


Sit on It! 15 (More!) Marvelously Modern Chair Designs

Chairs are so much more than a place to take a rest. They round out the decor of a room and speak volumes about the tastes - and humor - of their owners. Click Here to Read More »»

Sent from James' iPhone

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Mark Olmsted: Income Inequality for Dummies


Mother Jones and their fancy charts are all well and good, but I figure the best way to convey income inequality in this country is to use two things Americans love: pizza and cats.

Because unless Americans get a realistic understanding of how completely disproportionate the distribution of wealth is in this country, there's never going to be the populist pushback that will save it.


Read More...

Sent from James' iPhone

Christchurchian auctions off the boulder that destroyed his building

An enterprising fellow in Christchurch is auctioning off the 25-tonne boulder that destroyed his building as a "landscape feature" with proceeds going to the ChCh Earthquake Relief Fund. He calls the rock "Rocky."
He is in pristine condition (just a little bit of concrete dust). Suitable for garden feature, or as in our case a magnificent addition to your living area.

Rocky will enhance your "indoor outdoor" flow considerably, especially if you load him in through the garage roof like we did.

Sorry, but we are unable to deliver Rocky but would be happy for you to pick him up and roll him away (please mind our neighbours when you do) :-)

Landscape Rocks for Sale in ChCh (Thanks, Aeon, via Submitterator!)
 
Sent from James' iPhone

Friday, March 4, 2011

Producers of new Blade Runner to Christopher Nolan: Let's do lunch


Producers of new Blade Runner to Christopher Nolan: Let's do lunch

The producers who just bought the rights to make more Blade Runner movies have spoken out about their plans for the potential franchise. And not surprisingly, one director in particular is at the top of their wish list.

Sent from James' iPhone

Muslim student sues FBI over GPS tracking device placed on his car without a warrant


The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) this week filed a civil rights lawsuit against the FBI on behalf of Yasir Afifi, a Muslim-American student of Egyptian descent who lives in Santa Clara, California.

Mr. Afifi last year discovered a strange gadget attached to the underside of his car, when he took his car in for an oil change. He was afraid it was a pipe bomb. A friend of his then posted photos of Reddit, asking if anyone knew what it was. With the help of savvy internet observers, and civil rights groups including the ACLU and CAIR, Afifi soon figured out that this was a secret GPS tracking device, placed by the FBI without a warrant to spy on his movements and activities. News of the internet attention spread to FBI agents, who then demanded he return the device to the bureau.

Here's an overview of the lawsuit at AP, San Francisco Chronicle, SJ Merc, CNN.

Here is a PDF of the suit, via CAIR.com.

Video, from CAIR.com: Is FBI Using GPS Devices to Spy on Muslims?

Sent from James' iPhone

Leather Man, century-old hermit, to be exhumed


This is Leather Man, a famed hermit who wandered New York's Westchester County and Western Connecticut more than a century ago. He slept in caves, rarely spoke to anyone, and wore a suit made from old leather boots that he picked up along the way (hence his nickname). Leather Man is a legend in the area and his grave, apparently mismarked, is something of a local attraction. Now, historians and scientists plan to exhume his body for study and to move the remains to a better location than the "pauper's area" of the local cemetery. Others disagree with that plan, as evidenced by the site Leave Leather Man Alone, which Xeni previously posted about. The New York Times reports on this fascinating story:
 Images 2011 03 03 Nyregion Towns1 Towns1-Popup-1 His headstone reads Jules Bourglay, but that was not his name. Nor is there any reason to believe it was Isaac Mossey, Rudolph or Randolph Mossey or Zacharias Boveliat, as he has sometimes been identified. He was said to have been born in Lyon, France, the son of a wealthy wool merchant who was driven mad by economic ruin and a broken heart. It was reported that he had vast real estate holdings; that he once had a thriving business in Poughkeepsie; that he might be Portuguese; that he was a devout Catholic; that he was a fugitive from justice; and that he was a black man. There is no proof that a word is true.

He was given a pauper's burial at the edge of Sparta Cemetery, and, in 1953, as his fame continued to spread, the bronze plaque was added, a few paces from busy Route 9. But, as a result of research conducted by Dan W. DeLuca, author of the 2008 book "The Old Leather Man," it became clear that the name on the headstone was wrong. And with traffic on Route 9 increasing -- to 16,000 cars a day -- officials of the Ossining Historical Society, which maintains the cemetery, felt that the site, visited regularly, was unsafe. They decided to move the body to a spot with a proper and accurate marker near the flagpole in the center of the cemetery, and bring in experts to see if the body can tell us what the old man never did.

There's no guarantee there will be enough remains to determine anything. But Nicholas Bellantoni, the Connecticut state archaeologist, said analysis of bone and teeth could provide clues to the Leather Man's origins and health. At best, it could provide information about whether, as some have speculated, the Leather Man was autistic, which might explain his behavior.

"We're trying to do right by this man; he deserves better than a stone with someone else's name in the pauper's area," Mr. Bellantoni said. "We're never going to solve all the mysteries of the Leather Man, but if he couldn't speak, or chose not to, maybe his biology will have the chance to teach us about him -- not through legend, but through actual scientific knowledge."

"Looking for Answers From a Wanderer at Rest" (NYT)

Sent from James' iPhone

Proposed TX law would criminalize TSA screening procedures


A Republican Texas legislator has introduced a bill that would make the TSA's grope-and-fondle secondary search into a felony, and would also criminalize installing and using a pornoscanner:
HB 1937 includes the following:

(3) as part of a search performed to grant access to a publicly accessible building or form of transportation, intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:

(A) searches another person without probable cause to believe the person committed an offense; and

(B) touches the anus, sexual organ, or breasts of the other person, including touching through clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person.

(f) .... An offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a state jail felony.

The Tenth Amendment Center adds, "the Texas legislature stands on solid ground. Local governments control airports and no enumerated power in the Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate them. Under the Tenth Amendment, airport operation falls under state jurisdiction."

Texas Legislation Proposes Felony Charges for TSA Agents (Thanks, Anulla!)

Sent from James' iPhone

Morbidly obese spokesman for "Heart Attack Grill" dies at 29


A morbidly obese man who advertised a restaurant called "Heart Attack Grill" has died at 29, reportedly of pneumonia. He weighed 575 lbs.

"Cynical people might think this (River's death) is funny," the restaurant's founder Jon Basso told the Arizona Republic. "But people who knew him are crying their eyes out. There is a lot of mourning going on around here. You couldn't have found a better person."

At the Heart Attack Grill, scantily-clad women dressed as nurses unabashedly serve its customers high-caloric food. The menu touts its 8,000-calorie quadruple bypass burger, "flatliner fries" fried in "pure lard," a "butterfat shake," and no-filter cigarettes.

Blair River, 575-pound spokesman for Heart Attack Grill in Arizona dead at 29 (Thanks, John, via Submitterator!)

Sent from James' iPhone

Sirius XM to debut Tiger Blood Radio: all Charlie Sheen, all day long

Sirius XM to debut Tiger Blood Radio: all Charlie Sheen, all day long

NEW YORK, March 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) today announced that it has created "Tiger Blood Radio," a 24-hour limited run channel that will explore the breaking news, facts, fallout and career implications of the Charlie Sheen controversy. "Tiger Blood Radio" will air from March 5 at 6:00 am ET to March 6 at 6:00 am ET on Sirius channel 108 and XM channel 139.

"Tiger Blood Radio" was created in response to the national conversation sparked by the recent events surrounding actor Charlie Sheen.

"Tiger Blood Radio" will take listeners behind the headlines, exploring the media frenzy/media reaction, as well as the medical, psychological, psychiatric and pop culture and celebrity angles. Additionally, through a recap of news coverage, it will offer a timeline of recent events.

During the exclusive, limited run channel, SiriusXM listeners will hear archival Playboy Radio clips featuring "Goddess"/current live-in girlfriend Bree Olson, a Playboy Radio contributor. In addition, Sheen's ex-fiancee/Spice Radio host Ginger Lynn shares stories of her relationship with him on Tiffany Granath's Playboy Radio show; and adult film star Kacey Jordan talks to Playboy Radio's Night Calls about her times with Sheen.

Via: CrunchGear

Sent from James' iPhone