Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Question

Drawing a line in the sand

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Somebody was having a graph in Sandown last week after a mysterious image appeared on the beach.

A County Press reader sent this photograph of what looks like a graph with a set of dates on it, plus a 'you are here' message.

The graph attracted lots of attention from early-morning joggers and dog walkers, before it was obliterated by the tide.

Attention

Satire: Study, 74% Of Children Tenting Out In Yard Don't Make It Through The Night

Threat to children
© The OnionThree of the most likely killers of children.
Washington - According to a new report released this week by the Department of Health and Human Services, 74 percent of all American children camping out in their backyards never, ever make it through the night.

The study, which surveyed hundreds of innocent children between the ages of 7 and 12, found that, in almost all cases, sleeping outdoors in a tent with a flashlight and comic books and who knows what else lurking around in the dark ended in horrible tragedy.

"We now have definitive proof that most children who camp out in their yards will die a horrific death," said Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services. "Whether it's a sudden wolf attack, an escaped mental patient, or just Old Man Greenly, who lost his hand in a gruesome mill accident and now seeks his bloody revenge, young boys and girls rarely live to see their parents or friends again."

Ambulance

Satire: U.S. Congress Deadlocked Over How To Not Provide Health Care

Congress
© The OnionLeaders on both sides of the aisle try to hammer out an agreement on f****** over Americans.
Washington - After months of committee meetings and hundreds of hours of heated debate, the United States Congress remained deadlocked this week over the best possible way to deny Americans health care.

"Both parties understand that the current system is broken," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. "But what we can't seem to agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It's a very complicated issue."

"Ultimately, though, it's our responsibility as lawmakers to put these differences aside and focus on refusing Americans the health care they deserve," Pelosi added.

The legislative stalemate largely stems from competing ideologies deeply rooted along party lines. Democrats want to create a government-run system for not providing health care, while Republicans say coverage is best denied by allowing private insurers to make it unaffordable for as many citizens as possible.

Magic Hat

Putpockets give a little extra cash

Pounds_01
© REUTERS/Catherine Benson
Visitors to London always have to be on the look out for pickpockets, but now there's another, more positive phenomenon on the loose -- putpockets.

Aware that people are suffering in the economic crisis, 20 former pickpockets have turned over a new leaf and are now trawling London's tourist sites slipping money back into unsuspecting pockets.

Anything from 5 pounds ($8) to 20 pound notes is being surreptitiously deposited in unguarded pockets or open handbags in Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and other busy spots.

Video

Is Obama Hitler Or The Antichrist?

The Daily Show's Jason Jones took a hilarious and frightening look at two religious leaders who think President Obama is either Hitler or the Anti-Christ.

Reverend Daniel W. Blair, a Baptist minister whose likes include, "seeing people snatched from the fire of eternal damnation and transformed by the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," thinks Obama is "The Beast" who will usher in the end times. Pastor James David Manning, on the other hand, thinks the President is Hitler. (And also a bisexual...or bicycle.)

The key part of the the segment, though, is the main stream media's coverage of these men and their "theories." Sean Hannity even invited Manning on his show to discuss his Hitler comparison.

Luckily Jones deflates both men skillfully with only a couple references to Ashton Kutcher, "The Usual Suspects," and "Howdie Do It."

Butterfly

Canada: Mass mooning of U.S. spy balloon

Sarnia, Ont. -- A group of demonstrators descended on this border city yesterday to drop their pants and moon the sky to protest a U.S. surveillance balloon that was hovering nearby recently.

Organizers said between 200 and 300 people took part in the mooning protest, although a local Sarnia radio station put the number closer to 100.

People

For men, it's hip to be round

This summer the unvarying male uniform in the precincts of Brooklyn cool has been a pair of shorts cut at knickers length, a V-neck Hanes T-shirt, a pair of generic slip-on sneakers and a straw fedora. Add a leather cuff bracelet if the coolster is gay.

In truth this get-up was pretty much the unvarying male uniform last summer also, but this year an unexpected element has been added to the look, and that is a burgeoning potbelly one might term the Ralph Kramden.

Too pronounced to be blamed on the slouchy cut of a T-shirt, too modest in size to be termed a proper beer gut, developed too young to come under the heading of a paunch, the Ralph Kramden is everywhere to be seen lately, or at least it is in the vicinity of the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, the McCarren Park Greenmarket and pretty much any place one is apt to encounter fans of Grizzly Bear.

Smiley

Jon Stewart: Healther Skelter

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Comedy Central host Jon Stewart has access to video archives, and he's not afraid to use them.

Analyzing angry conservative protests against health care reform, Stewart experienced what he jokingly called "the shittiest day-dream I ever had" and flashed back to a time, not so long ago, when anti-war protesters were smeared as "anti-American" and even "Nazis" by right-wing pundits.

Laptop

Woman 'sacked' on Facebook for complaining about her boss after forgetting she had added him as a friend

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© UnknownWhy you should never add your boss as a friend on Facebook... 'Lindsay' appears to have been sacked in a message from her boss 'Brian'
A female worker appears to have become another casualty of Facebook updates after moaning about her job on the social networking site and getting the sack.

The woman, known only as 'Lindsay', updated her Facebook status with a message criticising her boss, but it seems she had forgotten that she had added him as a friend and could read all her messages.

Several other workers have been fired in the past after admitting throwing sickies, or claiming they are bored at work.

Bulb

Woman nabbed twice for DUI on same night in 2 cars

Lincoln, Nebraska - Police arrested a woman twice in one night in two different cars for driving drunk. Police spokeswoman Katie Flood said the woman was pulled over at 1:13 a.m. Wednesday after she allegedly made an illegal turn and was spotted swerving down a south Lincoln street.