Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Smiley

Satire? North Carolina: Pink Hill/Deep Run "mystery boom" investigation update

Jon Dawson
ENC Today
Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:26 UTC
On Jan. 4 The Free Press was inundated with calls in reference to an explosion near the communities of Pink Hill and Deep Run. While many residents stated they heard and/or felt an explosion, Lenoir County officials say they received no reports of unusual activity.

In the days that followed, many theories made the rounds on Facebook. Some people thought it may have been a meth lab explosion, while others figured it must've been a jet from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base breaking the sound barrier; some folks even theorized that a plane crashed in an unpopulated area.

After nearly two weeks of speculation, detectives with the Deep Run Sheriff's Office are investigating one person they are referring to as a "person of interest". That person is former South Lenoir sports legend Paul Novicky.
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Black Cat

Don't Touch My Baby! The Incredible Moment Three Lionesses Killed a Crocodile After it Tried to Attack a Cub


The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 15 Jan 2011 02:45 UTC
Three lionesses pounced on a crocodile in an extraordinary scene after the reptile tried to attack one of the pride's cubs.

The protective females instinctively leapt into action to fend off the aggressive predator.

With organised precision, the lionesses surrounded the croc and launched a ferocious volley of blows.

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© Tony Goldman/solentThe extraordinary encounter took place in Botswana and was captured on camera by a touring cardiologist

Image
© Tony Goldman/solentA lioness stared down the crocodile after it tried to snap at a cub

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© Tony Goldman/solentThe lionesses circled around the crocodile
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Newspaper

Michigan, US: Woman Recreates da Vinci's "Last Supper" with Lint


The Associated Press
Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:20 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Anthony ScipioThis photo provided by Ripley's Believe It or Not shows a replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s mural, The Last Supper, made out of laundry lint by Laura Bell of Roscommon, Mich.
A northern Michigan woman has put her own spin on Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper by making a replica out of laundry lint.

Laura Bell of Roscommon collected lint from her dryer and fashioned it into a 14-foot-long, 4-foot tall reproduction of the Italian Renaissance painter's masterpiece.

Bell says she needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the mural. She bought towels of the colors she wanted and laundered them separately to get the right shades of lint.

Her artwork has caught the eye of Ripley's Believe It or Not!

The company plans to put it on display at one of its museums.
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Family

Idaho, US: Woman Has 1/11/11 Baby Boy at 11:11 a.m.


The Associated Press
Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:31 UTC
Tyler Ashton Marx's lucky number is going to be one, or 11, or maybe both.

The son of Jared and Leslie Marx was born at 11:11 a.m. on Jan. 11, 2011, at St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center in Meridian, Idaho.

Jared Marx is serving in Iraq and watched his son's birth over the Internet.

Leslie Marx tells KTVB-TV that Tyler was born just as the clock switched to 11:11 a.m.

But Tyler Marx isn't the only one in the family with a memorable birthday. His older sister was born on Sept. 9, 2009 - 9/9/09.
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Family

Minnesota, US: Baby Girl Born at 1:11 a.m. on 1/11/2011


The Associated Press
Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:10 UTC
St. Paul - It's one for the record books. A lot of ones, that is.

A Minnesota woman gave birth at exactly 1:11 a.m. on Tuesday - Jan. 11, 2011.

That's 1-11-2011.

Amy Zeller and Codjo Mensah of Eagan welcomed their daughter, Flora Mensah, at United Hospital in St. Paul.

Zeller tells KARE-TV that they were watching the clock click down and the baby was born at exactly the right moment.
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Beer

7 Rock Songs Exploited for Commerce and Conservatism

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
AlterNet
Sat, 27 Nov 2010 16:14 UTC
When political songs are used to hawk goods and right-wing agendas, the song can get ruined by association.

beatles graphics sullivan
© WikipediaA recreation of the set for The Ed Sullivan Show when The Beatles performed their first live broadcast in the United States; its yellow tint, used to emphasize the performers on black-and-white television, is a detail obtained from photographs in Apple Corps' archive.
Since the U.S. government doesn't support artists like most first-world countries, musicians are increasingly filling their duckets with cross-promo deals from companies. While outside-the-mainstream artists and the towers of commerce have historically had a tenuous relationship, in the choked-income era of the mp3 - where it's increasingly difficult for even prominent groups to make a living off recorded music - more and more musicians have been letting marketers use their tunes for a check.

It's such a frequent occurrence it barely registers as cognitive dissonance these days... the song's political message is wildly at odds with the capitalist idea being sold. (See: Rolling Stones' latest.) Or, worse, left-wing songs are hijacked by right-wing politicians without permission. In both instances, sometimes the disconnect is so vast, it ends up in the courts. At the very least, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
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Megaphone

Police Stage Botched Pot Raid After Smelling Skunk Under Home

Steve Elliott
Toke of the Town
Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:47 UTC
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© The Skunk StripePawcuff that skunk! He smells like weed!
A Canadian man is demanding an apology after his home was raided at gunpoint Thursday by police who thought the scent of a skunk living under his home meant he was growing marijuana.

Oliver MacQuat of Gatineau, Quebec, said a team of armed police officers barged into his rural home with guns drawn, on the assumption they were busting a marijuana grow, reports CBC News.

"I opened the door and they all had their guns drawn," MacQuat said. "I was terrified, my heart was probably going 150 miles an hour."

Around 10 police officers swept through his house, MacQuat said, during which time his teenaged son returned home to flashing police lights.
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Heart - Black

Speeding New Hampshire father-to-be gets his day in court

Lynne Touhy
Associated Press
Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:39 UTC
Manchester - The New Hampshire man who got a police escort and then a speeding ticket for driving more than 100 miles per hour when his wife was in labor is in court fighting that ticket.

John Coughlin of Londonderry says he's fighting the Sept. 18 ticket for going 102 mph in a 55 mph speed zone because he fears he will lose his license if he pleads guilty.
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Blackbox

Please report suspicious activity at Wal-Mart to the Department of Homeland Security


You Tube
Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:48 UTC
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Briefcase

New documents: Hitler-mocking dog enraged Nazis


Associated Press
Sun, 09 Jan 2011 02:47 UTC
dog raises paw
© Unknown

Germany's Nazi government was so angry about a dog trained to imitate Hitler that it started an obsessive campaign against its Finnish owner, according to newly discovered documents.

In the middle of World War II, the Foreign Office in Berlin commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly Nordic country to gather evidence on the dog, and even came up with plans to destroy the pharmaceutical wholesale company of the dog's owner.

Historians had not been aware of the strange footnote to the Nazi period before some thirty files containing parts of the correspondence and diplomatic cables were recently found by a researcher at the political archives of the German Foreign Office.

Klaus Hillenbrand, an expert who has written several books on the Nazi period, was contacted by the historian and examined all of the documents for an article to be published Saturday in daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung.
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