Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
Jumbo Sized Edition Today!
* The housing market still spiraling down. Walkaways are happening more and more. Things are not getting better. Time for plan…Y? Z? Are we still in the alphabet here? [NYTIMES]
* In January, US predators had 12 missile strikes in Pakistan. 10 went wrong and failed to hit their targets, killing 123 civilians. The two successful drone strikes killed exactly three Al-Qaeda leaders. That’s a horrible ratio! 123 innocents dead per month? Not acceptable. Where’s the outrage on this? Where’s the media coverage? [THE NEWS]
* Apparently the US was close to complete financial collapse, literally minutes away from it at one point, and was about to fall into a second Great Depression. But things are much better now, and it can’t happen again. Right? [BLOOMBERG]
* The lawyers who OKed torture under Bush? Won’t be charged under Obama. Change you can’t believe in! [WASHINGTON POST]
* This is terrifying in a different way. 30 Asian Giant Hornets can take out an entire 30,000 strong European honeybee colony… in about 3 hours! They also like to eat Praying Mantises as a snack. Their venom can disintegrate human flesh in case someone gets too close to try and swat them. They fly without breaking a sweat at 40 km/h (around 25 mph) and will travel distances of 97 km (60 miles) to hit a target. I would recommend immediately killing every single Asian Giant Hornet possible before these juggernauts spread any further. No, it’s not environmentally friendly or “green” to say things like that, but I can’t think of one thing these monsters are good for. [ENVIRONMENTAL GRAFFITI]
* Have you ever wanted a police helicopter to show up to drop a spotlight on your next party? You’re in luck! Since Colorado Springs is slashing their budget to make ends meet, they’ve put just about everything on the FOR SALE pile on the internet… including most of their police helicopters! [DENVER POST]
* No surprise this was coming. And in England, no less! If you don’t want to be scanned in a device at the airport security that shows every inch of your naked body, you don’t get to fly on the plane. Nice. I betcha that within a year of those scanners being installed stateside, you’re going to see some naked scans suddenly appear online, courtesy of those thugs people working the gates as part of the TSA. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* And while you’re in England, there will be no videotaping allowed! None! Or you will be arrested! Even if you’re a kid. Did someone forget to tell the gestapo in England it was the ideology on the East side of the Berlin wall that had failed? [GUARDIAN]
* A physicist discovered how to teleport energy! This. Is. Crazy. Imagine a car that doesn’t need to carry any fuel because the fuel is constantly being teleported in. Or gadgets that get their power by waving them in front of “reload” stations as you walk by. Please be a proven theory, please be a proven theory, please be a proven theory! [TECHNOLOGY REVIEW]
* Speaking of science being very advanced nowadays, they just proved there was a Roman/Asian connection by examining the teeth of an unearthed body to determine what water source that person was drinking at birth. CSI Smithsonian! [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]
* Coming soon…Spray on glass! I would buy as many of these as you can as soon as it hits the store shelves, because spray on glass sounds like it might kinda be somewhat carcinogenic. [PHYSORG]
* Hubble has detected a very mysterious object. It is traveling at 11,000 mph and has a very distinct X shape. The really odd thing is that its’ “460-foot-wide nucleus is outside the dust halo and separated from the trail”. Comets so far have had their nucleus inside the dust halo with the tail attached to it. And if you want to be really technical, 11,000 mph is pretty slow space-wise. So if isn’t a comet and it isn’t an asteroid fragment, what is it? And don’t even mention LIFEFORCE. Friggin’ space visitors like that are the last thing we need right now. [GIZMODO]
* Dinosaurs had feathers! Looks like Jurassic Park was right! And speaking of Jurassic Park, what the hell was that supposed hunter character, Robert Muldoon, doing with a shotgun to hunt dinosaurs? .375 H&H Magnum, .470 Nitro Express, .270 Winchester and a .300 Winchester Magnum would’ve been my minimum arsenal choices for Jurassic Park. A Raptor probably would’ve shrugged off a shotgun hit. And don’t even get me started on a shotgun’s effectiveness on a T-Rex. [BBC.CO.UK]
* Because California has nothing to do, and because they really do own the moon, they are deciding on how to make tranquility base, where the astronauts landed, a state historical resource. Now I wanna know who’s going to enforce that law. [LA TIMES]
* And in other California news, LA might require new homes to capture rainwater. Welcome to California! We’re claiming the moon, but living in the 1800’s! Oh, and for those of you living in California, you might want to find out why there’s going to be a mandatory rainwater capture. If the city can’t get you water, what else is about to fail? [LA TIMES]
* 15 years ago, Calvin and Hobbes ended. Bill Watterson gives a quick interview about it today. Is it me, or does he look like Uncle Max now? [CLEVELAND.COM]
* The Russians have always been known as being super tough. Even nowadays, a 22 year old woman will just walk home, check in with her parents, and then to to the hospital after getting a 6 inch knife jammed in her neck. Budem zdorovy, guys! (graphic pic warning after jump) [AUSTRIAN TIMES]
