Society's Child

UK: WH Smith removes 'honesty boxes' as shoppers aren't honest!

Andy Dolan
Mail Online
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 18:35 UTC

They were heralded as a demonstration of the travelling public's integrity.

But after introducing honesty boxes to help time-pressed customers quickly pay for their newspapers, retailer WH Smith has discovered some shoppers can no longer be trusted to pay the correct amount.

The company installed the boxes at around 60 train station kiosks and airport shops nationwide, after a trial at two branches showed sales had risen and checkout queues had shrunk dramatically - with no increase in shoplifting.

But the store has now removed around a third of the boxes, which were sited near store newspaper racks and near store exits for customers who needed to buy a newspaper or magazine in a hurry.

Los Angeles, California: Cops burn man's genitals with taser in front of his family

Kristin Tate
Blacklisted News
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC

According to a lawsuit filed last month, Los Angeles police tasered 26-year-old Daniel Johnson in the genitals.

An officer knocked on Johnson's front door on December 26. The lawsuit alleges that Johnson was then informed that his 58-year-old father would be issued a $1,000 littering fine for dropping a cigarette on the ground.

Johnson asked the officer if he could pick up the cigarette butt for his father rather than face the fine. Apparently, the father suffers from nerve damage which causes him to drop things by accident on a regular basis.

The exact details regarding what happened next are unclear, but at some point an argument broke out between Johnson and the officers outside on the front lawn. This resulted in two policemen tackling the 26-year-old to the ground, securing him in a "full Nelson" hold, and then tasering him in the genitals.

The family has made it clear that the police intentionally targeted Johnson's genitals with the taser. Johnson said, "He was right above me as he tased me, so there's no mistake that he was trying to tase me in my genitalia."

Killing of zoo giraffe raises questions of science, ethics and education

Richard Steed and Malin Rising
Yahoo! News
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 12:55 UTC

Danish zoo kills giraffe to prevent inbreeding, rebuffs efforts to save 2-year-old Marius' life

Saying it needed to prevent inbreeding, the Copenhagen Zoo killed a 2-year-old giraffe and fed its remains to lions as visitors watched, ignoring a petition signed by thousands and offers from other zoos and a private individual to save the animal.

Marius, a healthy male, was put down Sunday using a bolt pistol, said zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro. Visitors, including children, were invited to watch while the giraffe was then skinned and fed to the lions.

Marius' plight triggered a wave of online protests and renewed debate about the conditions of zoo animals. Before the giraffe was killed, an online petition to save it had received more than 20,000 signatures.

But the public feeding of Marius' remains to the lions was popular at Copenhagen Zoo. Stenbaek Bro said it allowed parents to decide whether their children should watch what the zoo regards as an important display of scientific knowledge about animals.

"I'm actually proud because I think we have given children a huge understanding of the anatomy of a giraffe that they wouldn't have had from watching a giraffe in a photo," Stenbaek Bro said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

He said the zoo, which now has seven giraffes left, followed the recommendation of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria to put down Marius by because there already were a lot of giraffes with similar genes in the organization's breeding program.

Comment: There is an interesting discussion on our forum here about this very issue.

Warning! Fake funeral notice cyber-scam

Jason Sickles
Yahoo! News
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 10:37 UTC

In his line of work, funeral home director Brian Bass has come to expect the occasional juvenile phone prank.

But the hoax recently perpetrated on the small-town Eubank Funeral Home where Bass works is bigger than any adolescent antics. Cybercriminals hijacked the funeral home's identity as part of a worldwide email phishing scam.

For the past month, inboxes across the United States and beyond have been getting funeral notices that appear to be from Eubank Funeral Home in Canton, Texas, 60 miles east of Dallas.

Without saying who has died, the fake emails invite the recipient to an upcoming "celebration of your friend's life service" and instruct the recipient to click a link for "more detailed information about the farewell ceremony."

"It reaches to people's curiosity and their natural instinct to find out who passed away," Bass told Yahoo News.

But instead of going to Eubank's website, the Better Business Bureau says, the link in the email takes readers to a foreign domain where malicious software is downloaded onto the user's computer allowing criminals access to passwords, financial records, and other personal information stored on the computer.

We can be certain of this

Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 16:31 UTC

Just as the addict feels "I can't live any other way," so we continue clinging to a way of living that is equally self-destructive because we too see no other way to live.

Yesterday I discussed the intrinsic uncertainties in complex systems. (Certainty, Complex Systems, and Unintended Consequences). Amidst this sea of uncertainty we can be certain of this: humans will continue down an unsustainable path that inevitably leads to a tragic end until they succeed in destroying themselves or they reach a point of no return and abruptly change course.

That process of clinging to the present arrangement "because I can't live any other way" until that arrangement collapses is the primary narrative of our era. It is truly remarkable how humans will cling to a visibly self-destructive, no-exit arrangement because they see no alternative, and then after the present arrangement crumbles and the wreckage is cleared, we somehow manage to find some other arrangement.

Sadly, we only rouse ourselves to change when there is no other choice, that is, after we've destroyed the previous arrangement. Take the seas, for example: we're losing the oceans. The scale of our destruction of this resource is unprecedented and easily visible to all. The Consequences of Oceanic Destruction (Foreign Affairs) Over the last several decades, human activities have so altered the basic chemistry of the seas that they are now experiencing evolution in reverse: a return to the barren primeval waters of hundreds of millions of years ago.

Portland, Oregon: Angry residents wave pitchforks, torches in protest of Mayor's crackdown on homelessness

Eleanor Goldberg
The Huffington Post
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 21:59 UTC

A group of fired-up activists in Portland, Ore., who were tired of seeing homeless people being mistreated staged the kind of protest that will be difficult for the mayor to ignore.

An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them.

So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," organizer Jessie Sponberg told The Oregonian.

peep this shit. stop criminalizing homelessness! #angrymob#portlandpic.twitter.com/pdvWv4SjIj

- jessie sponberg (@ozone2016) February 12, 2014

Portland appears to be gearing up to revive a bill that would allow police to rouse homeless people sitting on sidewalks, The Oregonian reported at the end of last year. In July, Mayor Charlie Hales launched an effort to clear out homeless campsites, according to the Portland Mercury.

Sweeping campsites often exacerbates the situation for people living on the streets because the police discard homeless people's few possessions, which may include their only warm clothing and blankets, advocates noted in a Change.org petition.

New Mexico nuclear waste site has 'radiological event'

RT.com
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:25 UTC

Officials are monitoring the levels of airborne radiation at the deep underground facility in southeastern New Mexico where the US government disposes of its low-grade nuclear waste.

Air samples were taken around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) after a monitoring system detected traces of radiation on the underground levels of the facility around 11:30 pm Friday night, the US Department of Energy said in a news release.

The 139 workers above ground at the time of the incident were ordered Saturday to remain where they were as a precaution. None of the employees tested positive for radioactive contamination, and all non-essential personnel were released, Department of Energy spokesman Roger Nelson said.

Nelson said the cause of the leak remains a mystery, since inspection crews have not yet gone underground. He added that he was not sure when that would happen.

Surface samples show no sign of radiation, thus suggesting the leak was "not significant," he said.

Reality show snake-handling preacher dies -- of snakebite

Ashley Fantz
CNN
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:11 UTC

© CNN
Jamie Coots had said that he believed a poisonous snakebite would not harm believers as long as they are anointed by God.

A Kentucky pastor who starred in a reality show about snake-handling in church has died -- of a snakebite.

Jamie Coots died Saturday evening after refusing to be treated, Middleborough police said.

On "Snake Salvation," the ardent Pentecostal believer said that he believed that a passage in the Bible suggests poisonous snakebites will not harm believers as long as they are anointed by God. The practice is illegal in most states, but still goes on, primarily in the rural South.

Coots was a third-generation "serpent handler" and aspired to one day pass the practice and his church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, on to his adult son, Little Cody.

The National Geographic show featured Coots and cast handling all kinds of poisonous snakes -- copperheads, rattlers, cottonmouths. The channel's website shows a picture of Coots, goateed, wearing a fedora. "Even after losing half of his finger to a snake bite and seeing others die from bites during services," Coots "still believes he must take up serpents and follow the Holiness faith," the website says.

On Sunday, National Geographic Channels spokeswoman Stephanie Montgomery sent CNN this statement: "In following Pastor Coots for our series Snake Salvation, we were constantly struck by his devout religious convictions despite the health and legal peril he often faced.

Radiation Leak in New Mexico: "We've never seen a level like we are seeing"

Kimberley Paxton
The Daily Sheeple
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC

A nuclear waste facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico is the site of an airborne radiation leak. The high levels of particles were detected late Friday night at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

WIPP is housed at an old salt mine, and toxic waste like plutonium is housed half a mile underground.

All of the 139 workers were sequestered on site.

WIPP is the nation's first transuranic nuclear waste repository, used to permanently dispose of low-level nuclear waste from government sites around the nation.

"These are radionuclides that are of a hazard if inhaled, but it is not the kind of radiation that penetrates, and so the primary concern for the release of this nature is (through) the ventilation passageway and that's why our employees are sequestered in place," said Roger Nelson, a Department of Energy spokesman. (source)

Behind the Headlines: Protest Songs for the Revolution

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 19:00 UTC

This week we unwound a little to have a musical interlude and discuss some of the great 'protest songs' that became anthems of liberty during the otherwise bleak 'American Century', inspiring many with hope for Truth and Justice.

What makes a 'protest song' anyway? We also talked about some lesser known songs that didn't quite 'make it', but nevertheless struck a powerful chord with some because they record a truer version of history the victors would prefer we forget.

We were joined by Tim Trepanier, singer-songwriter and travelling troubadour from the prairie lands of Canada. Lead singer and guitarist for folk band Relic, we even convinced Tim to play a couple of his tunes for us live on air!

Running Time: 02:19:00

Download: MP3

A Fox News host (Lisa Booth) asking some of the right questions (nothing new if you're not new to the ranks of SOTTypes though). Her spiel begins...

Animanarchy

I've got a LOT of rope. Just let me know.

DeliciousTears

Brand new JP Sears video. Spiritual People Then vs Now: [Link]

Animanarchy

Well, if anyone would know a 'rigger', it's Obomber. The democratic party is filled with riggers, as the last 'election' amply demonstrated.......

Winston Smith

Government, aided by mainstream media: lie upon lie upon lie....

ReRan

Society's Child

UK: WH Smith removes 'honesty boxes' as shoppers aren't honest!

Los Angeles, California: Cops burn man's genitals with taser in front of his family

Killing of zoo giraffe raises questions of science, ethics and education

Warning! Fake funeral notice cyber-scam

We can be certain of this

Portland, Oregon: Angry residents wave pitchforks, torches in protest of Mayor's crackdown on homelessness

New Mexico nuclear waste site has 'radiological event'

Reality show snake-handling preacher dies -- of snakebite

Radiation Leak in New Mexico: "We've never seen a level like we are seeing"

Behind the Headlines: Protest Songs for the Revolution

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