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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Odd Stories: Vatican Beat to Porno Punch


The Vatican – In what was possibly an attempt to make sure they continue to keep their monopoly on child sex abuses, the Vatican found out it was too late to register its porn site counterpart www.Vatican.xxx.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi released a statement saying the “domain is not available because it has been acquired by someone else, but not the Vatican."

Children everywhere were depressed to know they won't be the next big porn star to transfer from the sex business to traditional acting.


Odd Stories: Ice Cream Spill

Fort Wayne – A semi-truck carrying 40-thousand pounds of Edy's Ice Cream rolled over on December 23rd at about 3:30 p.m.

Two lanes of I-69's traffic were closed while the spilled ice cream, as well as the rest of the stock on the truck, was loaded onto another truck.

Here is the news from INCNow

Odd Stories: Sprinter Funds Race Prospects Via eBay



London - After losing his funding due to injury problems the last four years, a British sprinter has raised enough money thanks to eBay.

The sprinter, 26-year old James Ellington, raised about $50,000 with the help of 45 bidders over a timespan of ten days. Along with his reserve saving of about the same amount of money, he says he will have enough money to pay for training, travel, and nutritional support. In return he promised to wear their logos “at every possible opportunity where appropriate, including at training and press events, until after the 2012 Games.”

He told BBC he “couldn't be happier” about how it turned out, adding "I didn't think that many people would bid.”

Odd Stories: Man Jumps Off Radio Tower


Fairfax/Crownsville, MD - In another show of stupidity, unpreparedness, or most likely both, Virginia man Robert Scott Morgan's jump off a radio tower didn't exactly turn out like he and his friend planned it.

Along with Sean Michael Bullington, from Draper, Utah, Morgan sneaked onto private property. Morgan was equipped with a parachute and took the leap off the structure. Unfortunately for him it didn't open all the way and he hit the ground, causing him to injure unmentioned parts of his lower body. While at the hospital as a precautionary measure he was cited for trespassing. Bullington, his accomplice, was cited for trespassing as well as providing a false statement to police.

I don't think the police should've charged Robert Morgan. The knowledge he could've died should be enough for him.

Odd Stories: Fake SanFran Doctor Finally Arrested


San Francisco - This is sheer stupidity on the end of the client, but at the same time I feel just a little bit sorry for her. In the pursuit of saving money, she went to a guy posing as a doctor (granted she didn't know he wasn't one so I'll give her a pass on that front) for liposuction. The man, Carlos Guzmangarza, ran a place called Derma Clinic and for three-thousand dollars performed the surgery. He was offering the lowest price.

Here, however, is when things should've started becoming clear to her. Guzmangarza picked the woman up at her house, which I don't see many doctors doing myself personally, drove her to the clinic, and then had her hold her IV bag for him while he smoked a cigar. Then as if things shouldn't be clearer enough for her, returned to her house a few days later with six pounds of fat and flushed it down her toilet. It wasn't until later, when her infected stomach forced her to go to a doctor, that she found out he wasn't really a doctor. Guzmangarza also treated the woman's daughter for acne by injecting an unknown solution into her face. He is facing ten felony charges, which is good, but feel free to look over this paragraph again.

Really? You couldn't tell something was wrong when the doctor offered to pick you up from your house? Nor when you held your IV bag...while smoking a cigar, or when he reappeared at your house wanting to flush six pounds of fat down your drain?

Yes I have a ton of sympathy for the woman, but it also comes with a huge amount of contempt. What she did is one of the dumbest things in the world.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Even Criminal Jack Abramoff Says the System is Corrupt

Mysterious Ball Drops From Space

Nambia - NASA and European space agencies are being contacted after what appears to be a metal ball fell out of the sky and into a patch of grassland near a village

The ball is said to be hollow, a diameter of 14 inches and a circumference of 43 inches.  Its surface, made of a metal alloy, is rough and looks like its two halves were wielded together.  It weighs 13 pounds.

In the days before the mysterious ball appeared, the locals say they heard several small explosions.  This isn't the only time these types of balls were found.  In the last 20 years several others appeared in southern Africa, Australia, and Latin America.  Despite all the testing done, including this one when it first appeared in November, nothing explains them.

“It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first,” said police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka.

U.S. Government Makes Odd Request of Scientific Journals



Washington D.C. - Under the guise of not wanting terrorists to get their hands on the blueprints, the United States government asked scientists from two labs responsible for creating new strains of the H5N1 virus - also known as bird flu - not to publish anything beyond the general details.

Without saying exactly what should be left out of the their publications the government sent the request to the journals Science and Nature at the request of bio-security advisers.  While the publications say they are deciding what to do, Science editor-in-chief Dr. Bruce Alberts said his journal is trying to get the U.S. government to set up some way for international researchers to still gain access to the virus strains.  He continues "This is a sort of watershed moment," and says it's the first time public health authorities sought out this kind of secrecy.  Nature's editor-in-chief is says the same thing adding "It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers.  Appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled."  It must be noted according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institute of Health where the original research was funded, said "It doesn't necessarily mean the new lab-bred flu strains could infect people."

The two research teams came upon the strains independent of each other, making ones that can spread between ferrets with little effort.  Ferrets were selected due to their similarity with humans when it comes to the flu.

More information won't be revealed until the scientific journals make a decision as to what to publish for the public to read.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Man Wins, Then Crashes, Lamborghini.

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Eight Soldiers Charged in Death of Fellow Asian Serviceman


View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.


Kabul/New York - The death of Danny Chen is thought have occurred after he was allegedly taunted and bullied by his companions about his heritage.  

The military said it is not only investigating his death but the events surrounding what happened until that point.  Spokesman Chris Grey said of the incident  "You can be sure that United States Army Criminal Investigation Command will continue to conduct a professional and very thorough investigation. We are not releasing any details to the public at this point to protect the integrity of our ongoing investigation."

 On December 21st 400 people, some from Occupy Wall Street, showed support for the family as they demanded answers for Danny's death.  During the event his family read aloud several letters he sent home that showed his feelings of isolation incurred by the harassment he suffered.  One of them read:





"'Feb. 27, 2011: Since I am the only Chinese person here, everyone knows me by Chen.  They ask if I'm from China a few times a day... They also call out my name Chen in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason.'"




Some of the charges facing the accused are dereliction of duty, involuntary manslaughter, assault, and negligent homicide.  They were moved to another location, undisclosed of course, for their own security.

President of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese-Americans Elizabeth OuYang said "Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny caused his death. They must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the killing of Danny Chen."


Update on Danny Chen's death:

Countrywide Settles Discrimination Suit



United States - In what's being called "the largest residential discrimination settlement in U.S. history," Countrywide's financial unit agreed to pay $35-million dollars in a settlement case alleging the company discriminated against minority home-buyers.  More than 200,000 African-American and Hispanic people in 41 states were affected.

Between 2004 and 2008 the company, now owned by Bank of America, focused on giving loans to people with low credit ratings and charging them higher interest rates than other their white counterparts.  Some of them were were also guided toward taking more expensive sub-prime loans despite the fact they were quantified for the traditional rates. 

Head of the Justice Department's civil rights division Thomas Perez said what the company did was "discrimination with a smile."  Twenty investigations are presently open in regards to allegations financial institutions participated in some sort of discriminatory practice against minorities when it came to buying homes.

When asked for a comment Bank of America's Dan Frahm stated "We discontinued Countrywide products and practices that were not in keeping with our commitment and will continue to resolve and put behind us the remaining Countrywide issues" adding the company's practices were not an issue, though they should be to some extent.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kepler Telescope Finds Two Earth-sized Planets


New York – Two Earth-sized planets were discovered by scientists orbiting a star 950 light-years outside our solar system.

The news brings many things to light. One is planets from such a distance away are able to be detected by the Kepler spacecraft, NASA's telescope which currently found several dozens of Earth-sized planets. Another is the possibility of life being present on the planet. Third is the features of the planet. So far the planets, named Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, possess a radius .87 times and 1.03 times our planet respectively. Both seem to be rocky and are the smallest of such planets orbiting a sun like ours found so far. Kepler-20e has a six Earth-day orbit, Kepler-20f orbits its star with a 20-day orbit. Nature magazine states neither of them are in what's called “the habitable zone,” nor do they spin on their axes. The scientists have yet to work out the planets' densities, which will be done with instruments like the HARPS-North radial-velocity spectrometer in the Canary Islands. It will be revealed around April of 2012

Despite this news however, presently humans would not be able to survive on either planet even if we were able to travel there in a relatively short period of time due to their temperatures. Kepler-20e is estimated to be 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and 20f reaches 800.

This news comes on the heels of another planet found with a surface more friendly to us, roughly about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, but too large to suggest life exists on its surface. That planet is estimated to be 2.4 times the size of Earth and possibly more like Neptune than Earth.

“Kepler can do things that no other telescope can do,” says Jonathan Fortney, astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He states the fact the two planets are sandwiched between three larger planets spanning a size spectrum from “super-Earths” to “mini-Neptunes” makes them strange finds. David Charbonneau, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center astronomer and co-author of the paper, stated “Different-sized planets do not mingle in [our] solar system, but apparently in this system they do.”

Update: Astronomers believe the planets were once gas giants that were stripped down after being swallowed by their swollen, aging parent.  They also say they "are sure there is no life on these planets."

Saudi Prince Invests in Twitter

Saudi Arabia - In what has to be a chilling effect for any dissenters in the Saudi kingdom, Prince Alwaleed bin Tatal bought a 3.75% - or 300-million - stake in Twitter.

The social media site is one of the big players in the Arab Spring, which eventually lead to the present-day worldwide revolt against the huge concentrations of power oppressing people everywhere.  Saudi Arabia is one of the few Middle Eastern countries currently unaffected not because the country treats its people well, but because they are good at crushing dissenters.  Sometimes literally.

His investment firm, Kingdom Holding Company, said the investment was "the result of several months of negotiations and comprehensive due diligence.  Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact."

Last year, Rupert Murdoch bought a 9.09% stake in Alwaleed's film, television, and music business Rotana Media Group.  Over 18 months' time he will have an option to increase it to approximately 18%.

Prince Tatal is also the second-largest investor in NewsCorp, which runs Fox News.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Brother of Whistleblower Speaks Out in His Name


London – Contrary to what James Murdoch told the British Parliament several months ago, phone hacking was a routine event at News of the World and The Sun.

According to Stuart Hoare, brother of journalist Sean Hoare, the man who suspiciously died around the timethe hacking scandal hit full swing, “the reality was that phone hacking was endemic within the News International Group. I know this to be the case because Sean and I regularly disccused this and there are emails in existence which support Sean's description of a practice referred to during such meetings as 'the dark side.”

Stuart, in case you don't remember or know, was the first journalist working for News of the World to publicly accuse his boss, Andy Coulson, of the hacking scandal. He was one of almost a dozen people arrested as a result.

Stuart said he and his brother “shared a lot of secrets and I felt very, very strongly that someone had to represent my brother.”

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Anonymous Releases Information on Passers of NDAA

United States of America - For those of you who didn't know, the National Defense Authorization Act passed the Senate with a shocking 86-13 vote (one seemed to abstain).  In retaliation Anonymous did a massive dump of information on every one of the Senators who approved the bill.  Hopefully the ensuing chaos sure to hit them will cause the people in power to try to make amends for their transgressions.