We set up this prank downtown San Luis Obispo with a real body wand, hidden microphones and cameras. The goal was to see how far we could take this scanning and if people would let us! To our surprise, most people didn't put up much of a fight and went along with the person ahead of them in line... which was our plant that we actual scanned again and again. People along the sidelines were freaking out as well and not sure how to intervene. Of course, once the gag was pushed to the limit, we all let the customer know it was a prank and and it was all love, hugs, high fives and laughs! 100% loved to be involved... but it does make you think!
NO! The last guy in the outtakes was NOT A PLANT. He was certainly a funny character who popped up on the radar that afternoon for sure. "Isn't America free?" Awesome.
Society's Child
© Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
In Britain one child in four lives in poverty, the report says.
In Britain one child in four lives in poverty, the report says.
Women and children in the UK would have longer and healthier lives if they lived in Cyprus, Italy or Spain, and Britain is facing "a public health timebomb", according to a study by an expert on inequality and health.
Sir Michael Marmot, who is known worldwide for his work on the social determinants of health, says much of the rest of Europe takes better care of its families. Life expectancy for women and death rates among the under-fives are worse in the UK, where there is also more child poverty.
The public health time bomb Marmot describes is caused by the large number of so-called Neets - young adults who are not in education, employment or training.
Women in the UK can expect to live to 83, but those born in a number of other European countries will live to a riper old age: in Germany and Cyprus, their life expectancy is 84, while in Italy, France and Spain it is 85.
© Tony Woolliscroft/WireImage
Celebrity comedian's critics miss the point on urgent need for 'revolution' to avert planetary extinction - yet question is still how
Celebrity comedian's critics miss the point on urgent need for 'revolution' to avert planetary extinction - yet question is still how
During his Wednesday night interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight, comedian and actor Russell Brand said what no politician or pundit would ever dare say: that without dramatic, fundamental change, the prevailing political and economic system is broken, and hell-bent on planetary-level destruction:
"The planet is being destroyed. We are creating an underclass and exploiting poor people all over the world. And the legitimate problems of the people are not being addressed by our political powers."Yesterday, Brand published an extended essay in the New Statesman fleshing out in detail his case for a "revolution" - not just a political and economic transformation, but one fundamentally rooted in a shift in consciousness toward a new way of thinking.
Bin raiding team with food items retrieved from supermarket bins in York - left to right: Santiago Parilli, Ursula Wild, Jo Barrow, Robin Lee
It's 2am on a bitterly cold winter night, and my friends and I are nervously looking over our shoulders in an exposed supermarket forecourt. As certain as we'll ever be that we're alone, one of us clambers over the fence that protects the back lot and disappears on the other side. We pause, nervously silent, listening for footsteps. There's a click and a squeak; our friend opens the gate and we slip in.
We pull on our gloves and head to the bins by the shop. We try the first one: locked. The second is locked too. We head to the third, breath held, and pull at the lid. It's stacked high with casually discarded food: pâtés, grapes, bacon, bars of chocolate, curries - it was all there, if a little the worse for wear and, legally speaking, unfit for human consumption. We unfurl some bin liners and, quite literally, dive in.
My friends and I have been living off bin food for more than two years. We're students, so the quick and easy access to seemingly limitless and varied free food is too good an opportunity to pass up - and it's changed our lives. Somehow, with no time, barely any cooking ability and little money, we've been feeding ourselves better than we'd ever have been able to if we'd stuck to the usual student staples of eggs and bread-with-stuff.
© Reuters/Issei Kato
Workers wearing protective suits and masks are seen next to the No.4 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture
Workers wearing protective suits and masks are seen next to the No.4 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture
The allegations, contained in an investigative report by Reuters, have also exposed deeply-rooted problems within Japan's nuclear industry as a whole. In the report, detailing the everyday realities of workers at the stricken facility, Reuters interviewed an estimated 80 casual workers and managers. The most common complaint voiced was the cleanup effort's utter dependence on subcontractors - which it is alleged endangered not just workers' rights, but also their lives.
Tetsuya Hayashi, a 41-tyear-old construction worker by trade, applied
for a job at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, after he suspected that the plant was in deeper trouble than it was willing to admit. The $150 billion cleanup effort, which is expected to last several decades into the future, has already required up to 50,000, mostly casual workers.
However, Hayashi only lasted two weeks on the job, as it became apparent that the vast network of subcontractors involved in the cleanup efforts could not care less for his rights (or his health), while Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant's operator, was doing little except giving subcontractors a slap on the wrist.
Hired to monitor the exposure to radiation of plant workers leaving the job during the summer of 2012, Hayashi was assigned to the most bio-hazardous sector and given a protective anti-radiation suit. However, even with the suit on, we exceeded his safe annual radiation quota in less than an hour.
The subcontractor who hired Hayashi was not following nuclear safety rules, according to exposure guidelines by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reuters reported.
Food banks have seen a surge in use - "Children are going to school hungry", says Mark Ward, Trussell Trust
The Trussell Trust, which runs 400 food banks across the UK, said it handed out supplies to more than 350,000 people between April and September this year.
A third of those being helped were children, and a third needed food following a delay in the payment of benefits.
A cross-party group of MPs has been set up to investigate the surge in demand.
The Labour MP Frank Field, appointed by David Cameron as the government's poverty advisor, will head up the committee along with Conservative Laura Sandys.
© Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AFP
US President Barack Obama (L) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin
US President Barack Obama (L) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin
Putin's Syria "chess match" that prevented the US strike, and his having the last word in the diplomatic row over the fugitive NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, didn't go unnoticed with the editorial rating of the influential American business magazine, and were noted among the reasons for his top place.
Comment: With Vladimir Putin's RECENT efforts to avoid another war in the Middle East, it sure seems like he is becoming more of a peacemaker than war waging imperialist. Not bad for a "autocratic leader," "ex-KGB strongman," and "dictator".
Lakewood police are investigating what they suspect are human and animal remains believed to have been used for occult worship.
Officers were called around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 to the 1200 block of Kline Street where a cleaning crew hired by a realtor made the discovery, said Steve Davis, Lakewood police spokesman.
The bones were found in a shed, along with candles, bottles, chains and a crucifix, Davis said.
The former owner of the home left the country in 1998 and has since died, police said. Investigators talked to people who knew the man, including at least one family member, who indicated he was an occultist, Davis said.
"It's all very strange," Davis said.
The items in question in the shed were extremely soiled, covered in multiple layers of dust and appeared to have been undisturbed for more than 15 years, Davis said.
Officers were called around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 to the 1200 block of Kline Street where a cleaning crew hired by a realtor made the discovery, said Steve Davis, Lakewood police spokesman.
The bones were found in a shed, along with candles, bottles, chains and a crucifix, Davis said.
The former owner of the home left the country in 1998 and has since died, police said. Investigators talked to people who knew the man, including at least one family member, who indicated he was an occultist, Davis said.
"It's all very strange," Davis said.
The items in question in the shed were extremely soiled, covered in multiple layers of dust and appeared to have been undisturbed for more than 15 years, Davis said.
© Mark Richards
Mark McGuigan said he was humiliated and intimidated by the Tory MP’s intervention
Mark McGuigan said he was humiliated and intimidated by the Tory MP’s intervention
Mark McGuigan said ministerial aide Daniel Kawczynski loomed over him outside Westminster Tube station to tell him 'get a job, find some work. Yes, I know it is hard, I have struggled too'.
The 47-year-old former drug addict, confined to a wheelchair after losing a leg to septicaemia from heroin use ten years ago, said he wanted to 'name and shame' the Tory MP over the October 7 incident.
'He told me to stop begging and to get a job. He made me feel really small. He was so sanctimonious,' he told the Daily Mail.
'I can't get a job. I can barely read and write. Look at me, I am missing a leg. I said that to him but he just started getting more and more aggressive. It was horrible.
© Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Abdulla Darrat, an urban planner from Queens, said he has been singled out for repeated searches by airport security.
Abdulla Darrat, an urban planner from Queens, said he has been singled out for repeated searches by airport security.
While the agency says that the goal is to streamline the security procedures for millions of passengers who pose no risk, the new measures give the government greater authority to use travelers' data for domestic airport screenings. Previously that level of scrutiny applied only to individuals entering the United States.
The prescreening, some of which is already taking place, is described in documents the T.S.A. released to comply with government regulations about the collection and use of individuals' data, but the details of the program have not been publicly announced.
Comment: See also: Fukushima's Nuclear Mafia