DC : Life imitates art, art imitates life

[Story]

A Korean satellite has caught an eye-catching view of an island in Mexico known for a deep, rocky hole -- and waters so dark that they earned it the name Holbox, a name that means "black hole."
The photo was taken by the Korea Multi-purpose Satellite 2, or Kompsat-2, and shows Holbox Island and its Yalahau lagoon at the northeast corner of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. [Photo of Earth's "black hole"]


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/ ... z1JtI1YcJE

Ancient Human Found in Iowa Sewers
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/ ... p=obinsite

[Story]

The Michigan State Police have started using handheld machines called "extraction devices" to download personal information from motorists they pull over, even if they're not suspected of any crime. Naturally, the ACLU has a problem with this.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-200 ... z1K4VlWMZd

Apple faced questions on Wednesday about the security of its iPhone and iPad after a report that the devices regularly record their locations in a hidden file.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42697611

[Story]

Steytlerville, a small Karoo town, is being plagued by rumours of a shape-shifting monster, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday.

“The community says that the monster changes shape while you are looking at it,” Warrant Officer Zandisile Nelani said.

He said one man had reported it changed from a man wearing a suit into a pig and then into a bat. The creature had been sighted on a number of occasions near a church and only appeared at night, Nelani said.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/back-page/kar ... -1.1060480

A homeless woman in Connecticut has been arrested for one of the most unthinkable reasons imaginable -- she sent her son to school. Tonya McDowell, 33, was arrested last week and charged with first-degree larceny for stealing $15,686 -- the cost of the public school education for her 6-year-old son.

To make matters worse, the child's babysitter, who provided documentation that said the boy lived at her Norwalk address, was evicted from her public housing unit for her role in his education. McDowell and her son had been bouncing between an acquaintance's home in Bridgeport and a homeless shelter in Norwalk with the boy spending afternoons with the babysitter. The school he attended was in Norwalk School District, which had recently decided to crack down on infiltrators.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/big_kid/119190



(NEW YORK) -- If you think gas prices are high at the moment, one expert says ‘just wait.’

“Six dollar gas is probably one well-placed hurricane and one tiny little bit of supply disruption away,” says consumer strategist Richard Hastings.

http://wlsam.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid=29660443

[ReHerakhte]

(NEW YORK) -- If you think gas prices are high at the moment, one expert says ‘just wait.’

“Six dollar gas is probably one well-placed hurricane and one tiny little bit of supply disruption away,” says consumer strategist Richard Hastings.

http://wlsam.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=114&itemid=29660443

If you think prices are high you should try Australia, we've been paying the equivalent of US$1.40 for a quarter of a gallon and the real slap in the face is that approximately 60% or more of our fuel is produced in the local region. To put that in some context for non-US forum readers, the US is paying approximately US$3.50-4.00 per gallon

[Story]

Eamonn Ansbro, a Roscommon-based astronomer, has attracted international media attention as he claims his research has unearthed evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Now the Boyle local wants to put the town on the map establishing a centre for all things UFO.

For the past 20 years Ansbro, from the town of Boyle, has been carrying out research on extraterrestrial intelligence. Ansbro gives presentations across the globe, including one to the French government.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish- ... 42784.html

[Morthrai]

If you think prices are high you should try Australia, we've been paying the equivalent of US$1.40 for a quarter of a gallon and the real slap in the face is that approximately 60% or more of our fuel is produced in the local region. To put that in some context for non-US forum readers, the US is paying approximately US$3.50-4.00 per gallon

As any Brit will tell you, we pay over one pound thirty per litre. A quick currency conversion tells me that's $9.60 US per gallon

[Story]

A quick currency conversion tells me that's $9.60 US per gallon

This falls under the "100 years is a long time, 100 miles is a long drive" difference between the US and the UK, as far as the societal impact. $10/gallon in the US would be... interesting.

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Shades of "Dark Angel"

SEATTLE (AP) -- In one of Seattle's most urban neighborhoods, a small elementary school is trying to wean itself off the city's water grid.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... SECTION=US

[ReHerakhte]

Yeah you're quite right, a straight currency conversion doesn't really explain the situation too well.
I mentioned the price for Australia because at the moment the Aussie dollar is equal to the US dollar in terms of buying power, our general cost of living is only a little more than the US, our wages are similar enough and we get a fair amount of our oil from the local region.
As I understand it, with the UK, the wages are higher but the cost of living is also higher to match that and the cost of producing fuel is higher in the UK than in Australia and the US.

[Morthrai]

I should point out, I don't have a car anymore. Spending the majority of the past decade working at a repair & testing garage and also for a pub whose boss had a van for ferrying beer around in, means I haven't actually needed one of my own There's always a company vehicle if I need one.

[Story]

A patient who apparently ingested rodent poison and is emitting potentially harmful gasses has created a hazardous material situation at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.

The man is isolated in his room in the medical intensive care unit on the hospital’s sixth floor, 5301 McAuley at East Huron River Drive, hospital spokeswoman Lauren Jones said this afternoon.
http://www.freep.com/article/20110425/ ... eststories

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Inspirational insects
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135638924 ... t=1&f=1001

This would make an interesting and potentially funny Welsh 'adventure'.

If you want to know how many reports of UFOs, zombies and ghosts one Welsh police force has had in recent years, thank the Freedom of Information Act.

Dyfed-Powys Police is putting on its website the requests it receives under the Act, and the responses it gives.

It reveals 14 recorded UFO sightings in the past five years, along with 26 reports of ghosts, 11 witches - and two of zombies and vampires respectively.

But one zombie report turned out to be in a horror film being shot in Pembrey.

During those five years the force have had to deal with over 3,300 requests, which police said had cost it over £500,000.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-sout ... s-13186033

*

Oi.
http://www.parentdish.com/2011/04/26/br ... 3%7C210910

Low funds have forced the SETI Institute to stop its search for extra terrestrial intelligence. Last week, the group put the Allen Telescope Array, which scans for messages from beyond the stars, into “hibernation” and stopped all but basic maintenance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fas ... _blog.html

[Story]

To protect its 3.3 square miles, Kings Point plans to install 44 cameras and license plate readers at each of the 19 points of entry. The devices will take pictures of every vehicle and license plate and compare them to data bases.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/04/26/ ... e-network/

[Story]

In an unorthodox bit of jailhouse lawyering, a self-described spellbound Tacoma detainee has sued immigration officials claiming they put a curse on him.
Representing himself in the lawsuit, detainee Benson A. Oluwarotimi claimed that U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers cast “a dangerous and mysterious spell” on him when he was arrested in Juneau, Alaska.


Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/ ... z1Kq1hpmSJ

[Story]

(CNN) -- An airborne virus is rapidly turning people into zombies. Two-thirds of humanity has been wiped out. Scientists desperately look for a cure, even as their own brains deteriorate and the disease robs them of what we consider life.

Relax, it's only fiction -- at least, for now. This apocalyptic scenario frames the new novel "The Zombie Autopsies" by Dr. Steven Schlozman, a child psychiatrist who holds positions at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Program in Child Psychiatry.

You might not expect someone with those credentials to take zombies seriously, but it turns out the undead are a great way to explore real-world health issues: why certain nasty diseases can destroy the brain, how global pandemics create chaos and fear, and what should be done about people infected with a highly contagious and incurable lethal illness.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/25/zo ... =allsearch

[Zvezda]

(CNN) -- An airborne virus is rapidly turning people into zombies. Two-thirds of humanity has been wiped out. Scientists desperately look for a cure, even as their own brains deteriorate and the disease robs them of what we consider life.

I have been waiting for this announcement for ages!

[Story]

For the Nomenklatura in your life


http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/04/ ... comes-suv/